mmm 






- -■-'«.;. cct c. c 
<:: <.< -< c 

^5ISB; : Sl^-Cc<*3H 

.:- ^Cj = .Cs - <■ Q 



Cfi< ^^ 

<S3C r^ 






«c_ c<c 
*<c Cc 

«r:cic 

c«*n<sc 

<Cc_jc*l^< o«< 
<Clcc«r< <■*«- 
<c: c c 



c<ecc«c c < 
<r:cc^ c<< 



<trcc 



CSC 

= CsC 

"<3£C 

. <3XC 

crcc 

cfcc 

:.cc 



- c<e<si ^ c 

- S c ^ c 

^ cc <r c c 

C c c 

^-ccce: c 

- C c c c 

_CC<ST <^< 

=_ CC <^ c c 

. ccc < c c 
»CCC: c c<«c: 
^CCCS: < <a«<i 
.CC€ : «feC 
^C^ < CSLC 
,<:<:« < cc«. 
*j£OC. < CSC 

j£c«l".:. < cox 

^cc<c < c^c 

^xcc?:. < c <?c 

^CC.C'ccccC 



<cc.c 



c <rcc« 
ccc 

Ccc- 
ccc 



<<5C<C 

c OC CI 

:cc ^ 



e- CC 

^ cc 

i- CC 



II LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 

p 

If UNITED STATES 01 ftlCA 



CHQCC 

C?CjC 

ccc 

CCC 

Ccc d 
'cc Cl i 



c cr<c 

c '"o <: 

sr/c-c 

:c_0' <<_ 
c c c 
<&:cr c 
Cc c 
cccc 



C.C c 



r C c 

■ u - &,c 
c CLc; 



cc <r <j 



^ . crcrcc 

- «3LCCC 



< 


c c 


«: 


c c 


<L 


■c < 


. dc 


*& 


-««CL 


«5C 


mc 




^CL 




4» 


CC 


<M 



cc «:cc c<- _ 



cT c <: 
<S^ c_c <^ 
<SL -<c c 

or «g 

<3C <£f CI 

cc cc - 

CC CC 

cc cc 

cc < c < 

<sc < c <: 

<C < « - 

cc cc <r: « 



c- c 



CcC 



< ccci 



*c ■ 4c! 



cccc « •«- 
c 

<XCC C 
CLCC C 

cccc 

<§3C 

CcccC ^_ 

CcCC ^«3C 

<scc <-«*ec; 



rccx^ 

<34CCm 



^CCC_ 

«C< c< 
-ccct 



-c*c 

C<?<i< .;■ *^~ <" 

T c 



cc e *sac_ c 
c c d c 
^ c <*XL^C 



«C< C< 



CL c ■■''- ^ 


* 






^s= - <^ -v »^— 


k Ja» 


^~ ---' 


CL 


c * 




«CL 


« CL « 




^ 




C 


<z < < o • 


<L • <^1_ 


*~ 


*^~ 



«CC «8QC 



«C' <*cc 



c: g < 
Ci<cv< 



C « c:<f 



<nr<::< 

c: c c 



4 < <3C 

: Cc *<.< 
Cc «X 
CC ' <CC_f 

cc «£<&, 

Cc «■ 

c? <*/ 
S <Cc < 
^«c 
:<2 



^ 






3» ■• &H2 



THE FIKST ADAM AND THE SECOND. 



THE 



ELOHIM REVEALED 



IN THE 



CREATION AND REDEMPTION OF MAN. 



Upton? udSm d-tx nfrjgj trrfix i?*n-GE N . i. 26. 

(9s6~ i</'c/.^sf)codrj iv aapxh— 1 Tim. m. 16. 



SAMUEL J. BAIRD, D.D 



PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WOODBURY, N. J. 




PHILADELPHIA: 
PARR Y k M C MILLAN. 

1860. 



-if < 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

parry & McMillan, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON & CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 



COLLINS, PRINTER. 



{ | 

I 



TO 
MY BELOVED AND VENERATED MOTHER, 

ESTHEE THOMPSON BAIRD, 

IS INSCRIBED 

THIS ATTEMPT TO EXHIBIT SOME OF THE DOCTRINES OF CHRIST, 

THE PRINCIPLES OF WHICH WERE LEARNED AT HER FEET, 

FROM THE WESTMINSTER CATECHISMS AND THE WORD OF GOD, 

AND DEVELOPED IN THEIR HARMONIOUS PROPORTIONS 

IN THE SABBATH EVENING FAMILY EXPOSITIONS OF 

A FATHER 

WHOSE FAITH IS LONG SINCE LOST IN VISION. 



PREFACE. 



The Delphic motto, "Know thyself," is the utmost achievement of classic 
philosophy. It is the first principle of the doctrine of Christ, — the starting- 
point to the higher knowledge of God and his Son. And, whilst philosophy 
exhausts itself in constructing the maxim, and utterly fails to show how we 
may come to self-knowledge, the gospel proclaims Him in whose glorious 
person man is one with Jehovah, — without whom we can know neither our- 
selves nor God ; and, knowing whom, we have all knowledge. The apostasy 
of man, the corruption and depravity into which he plunged himself by his 
rebellion, and the curse thereby incurred from a God of holiness and truth, 
are the cardinal facts which lie at the basis of the whole saving doctrine of 
the Scriptures ; — facts which, if misunderstood or ignored, the word of God 
is a riddle ; if denied, the very person of Christ is a lie. The doctrine, there- 
fore, of original sin, has ever been held, by the church of God, to be funda- 
mental to the whole system of truth ; and every attempt to pervert that doc- 
trine, or to set it aside, has been justly regarded as heresy, fraught with the 
most fatal consequences to the scheme of grace and the souls of men. A 
testimony to doctrines so important can never be unseasonable ; and is, per- 
haps, especially appropriate to the present time, when we have increasing 
evidence of defection from these doctrines, among some of our American 
churches, which once gloried in the faith they now disown, and were set for 
the defence of the truth which they now reject and assail. 

At an early date in the ministry of the author, he began to prepare what 
was designed to be a brief treatise on the doctrine of Christ, viewed as the 
progressive unfolding of an eternal plan for the revelation of the Most High. 
Other cares and labours interposed, and the work was laid aside. More 
recently, circumstances of special interest to him, but of no moment to the 
public, determined him to utter a testimony to some of the doctrines which 
are set forth in this work. At first no more was designed than a very brief 
exposition of some cardinal points. But, as he proceeded, the theme ex- 
panded ; and the importance of the topics, the impossibility of doing them 
justice in a brief discussion, and the delight enjoyed in contemplating the 
scheme of God, of which they constitute the chief elements, have insensibly 
controlled the pen, until the present volume is the result. 

It has been remarked, by one of the most eminent of our noble brother- 
hood of divines, that " we want some central principle, which embraces 

5 



6 Preface. 

equally the religion of nature and the religion of grace. Until some such 
central principle is developed in its all-comprehensive relations, we are 
obliged to have a twofold theology, as we have a twofold religion, — a cove- 
nant of works and a covenant of grace, with no bridge between them."* 
The doctrine which is illustrated in the present work, — that of God revealed 
through an eternal plan, — presents itself to the mind of the writer as being 
the desideratum here indicated ; as that around which all doctrinal truths 
cluster and shine in a light and harmony not otherwise discoverable. It is 
not, however, as an exhibition of systematic theology, in this light, that the 
writer lays his present offering at the feet of the church of Christ. But, 
looking upon this as the true point, from which to view the related doc- 
trines of the ruin and recovery of man, — the catastrophe of the first Adam 
and the redeeming work of the second, — he has constructed the argument, 
on these subjects, in accordance with that idea; and only appealed to the 
other leading features of the system of truth for the illustration of these. 

The fragmentary manner in which the work has been written, — at times 
snatched from pastoral and other labours and cares, and other causes, — 
have necessarily induced many imperfections and defects. Nor would the 
author venture before the public in a form so imperfect, did he not hope 
that, with all, his offering may be acceptable to Christ, and advantageous 
to his church and cause. 

Trained from my childhood in the love of the doctrines of the Westmin- 
ster Confession, — confirmed, by the results of my maturest studies, in the 
conviction that they are in thorough accordance with the word of God, — I 
have not attempted to conceal the fervour of a devoted zeal in their behalf; 
nor to imitate that, charity which consists in indifference to the loveliness of 
the truth and the deformity of error. Constrained, on some points, to differ 
with brethren and fathers beloved and venerated in our own church, — the 
candour and directness, which the importance of the questions seemed to de- 
mand, have not, I trust, been inconsistent with that respect and deference 
which I cordially cherish for men at whose feet I should be happy to sit. 

The introductory chapter is designed to exhibit the position which has 
been occupied by the church, from age to age, on the subject of original sin. 
The graces of composition have been cheerfully sacrificed to this object. My 
authorities, besides those marginally acknowledged, are, the Corpus et Syn- 
tagma Confessionum, by Gaspar Laurentius, Geneva, 1612, and the Collectio 
Confessionum, by Niemeyer. 

The fruit and the solace of many toilsome hours is now committed to the 
candour of the Christian public, — not without the earnest hope and the 
prayer that He in whose fear it has been written will accept it to his own 
glory, and the furtherance of his cause. 

* Southern Presbyterian Review, 1858, vol. x. p. 619. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE DOCTRINE OF ORIGINAL SIN. — P. 11. 

§ 1. Doctrinal development through contact with error. § 2. Doctrine of Tertullian. 
$ 3. Hilary and Ambrose. § 4. Pelagius. § 5. Augustine. $ 6. Mediaeval theology. 
$ 7. Earlier Reformed confessions. § 8. Continental divines. $ 9. The Remonstrants 
and the Synod of Dort. $ 10. Westminster Assembly. § 11. British divines. § 12. 
Doctrine of Placaeus. £ 13. Edwardean theology. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE TRIUNE CREATOR. — P. 51. 

\ 1. The creation was by the Trinity as such. § 2. The Father and Son. — The 
eternal generation. — Proof from the second Psalm. §§ 3, 4. From Proverbs viii. 22-31. 
§ 5. From Proverbs xxx. 3, 4, and Micah v. 2. § 6. From the gospels. § 7. From the 
epistles. $ 8. Other arguments. $ 9. Objections met. $ 10. General considerations. 
# 11. The Scripture argument summed up. g 12. The doctrine respecting the Father, 
Son, and Spirit, severally, and as one. 

CHAPTER II. 

THE ETERNAL PLAN. — P. 82. 

§ 1. In working, wisdom requires an object. § 2. God's object was the revelation of 
himself, the Triune God. § 3. To that end, an eternal plan. § 4. It includes the 
minutest details. § 5. The angels and the material universe. — In it God shines. § 6. 
His moral glories revealed in man, Christ, and the work of redemption. $ 7. Earth its 
theatre. $ 8. The revelation progressive and cumulative. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE PROVIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION. — P. 100. 
§ 1. Different theories of second causes. $ 2. Our doctrine. $ 3. Edwards' theory. 
§ 4. His doctrine of identity. § 5. His doctrine unscriptural. $ 6. Office of the sys- 
tem of nature. $ 7. God's immediate agency. — McCosh's theory. $ 8. Miracles and 
special providences. £ 9. General principles of administration. £ 10. Mode of dis- 
pensation. $ 11. Conclusion. 

CHAPTER IY. 

ADAM THE LIKENESS OF GOD. P. 132. 

$ 1. Adam the image and likeness. § 2. His body immortal. § 3. Likeness in his 
generative nature. $ 4. Proof that this was designed, g 5. "Wonderful nature of gene- 
ration. § 6. " Nature" defined. \ 7. The breath of life, the Spirit's image, g 8. The 

7 



8 Contents. 

natural attributes of his soul. § 9. His moral powers. — Reason. — Conscience. § 10. The 
Will. £ 11. Nature of motives. § 12. Freedom of the will. § 13. Definitions of liberty : 
Edwards, Leibnitz, and Aristotle. $ 14. Adam's knowledge. $ 15. Proof of it from 
the use of language. § 16. His righteousness and holiness. § 17. His dominion. 
Recapitulation. 

CHAPTER Y. 

THE LAW OF GOD. — P. 187. 
$ 1. God our sovereign. § 2. Hopkinsian theory. g 3. Beecher's Conflict of Ages. 
§ 4. He sets fate above God. g 5. The doctrine infidel. § 6. Office of intuition. § 7. 
Doctrine of the Scriptures. § 8. May the creatures sit in judgment on God ? § 9. 
Beecher's experiment. $ 10. The doctrine precludes a revelation of God. § 11. Nature 
and necessity of God's sovereignty. § 12. The law is, Glorify God. § 13. It demands 
perfect obedience, of the whole being, perpetually, g 14. It binds all. § 15. Adapts 
itself to all cases. § 16. Office of the written law. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE LAW. P. 228. 

§ 1. God's moral attributes. $ 2. He glories in them. § 3. Their nature and evi- 
dence. $ 4. Design of their revelation. \ 5. The principle thus deduced. $ 6. The 
perfection of the law consists in its transcription from the moral nature of God. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE NATURE OF SIN. P. 243. 

g 1. Sin is unlawfulness. § 2. Phenomena of moral natures. § 3. Moral obligation. 
— Its subject the nature. § 4. The law addresses the nature. § 5. Edwards' doctrine 
of the nature of sin. g 6. Sin of nature. $ 7. Results of our inquiry. # 8. Barnes' 
doctrine. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

DEATH, THE PENALTY OF THE LAW. P. 263. 

$ 1. Sanctions necessary. $ 2. Nature of a penalty. § 3. Death, not metaphorical. 
§ 4. Its use illustrated in Abel's death, g 5. It is not bodily dissolution. $ 6. It is 
God's inflicted curse. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE LAW A COVENANT OF LIFE. P. 280. 

§ 1. The covenant gratuitous from God. § 2. The promise, its symbols and seals. 
$ 3. Date of the promise. § 4. The trees of life and knowledge. £ 5. The promise 
was a covenant. £ 6. Positive constitution of the covenant. $ 7. The life promised. 

CHAPTER X. 

ADAM THE COVENANT HEAD OF THE RACE. P. 305. 

$ 1. Proof of Adam's headship. $ 2. The cause of it, the inscription of the covenant 
in his propagative nature. $ 3. Proofs of the doctrine. § 4. Other scriptural examples. 
$ 5. Principle of identity. $ 6. The idea of a " constituted" representation untenable. 
$ 7. The principle of representation. $ 8. Eve part of the representative head. 



Contents. 9 

CHAPTER XL 

EXTENT OF ADAM'S PARENTAL RELATION. — ORIGIN OF THE 
SOUL. — P. 335. 
§ 1. History of doctrine on the subject. § 2. Philosophical arguments against propa- 
gation. § 3. These answered. § 4. Scripture argument against it considered. § 5. 
Affirmative argument gratuitous. § 6. Sethi's birth. § 7. Other Scripture proofs. § 8. 
The proper position of philosophy in relation to theology. § 9. Creationism involves a 
duality in man. § 10. Relation to Christ's humanity. § 11. It is inconsistent with 
the doctrine of miracles. § 12. And with the certainty of the relation of cause and 
effect. § 13. Difficulty on original sin. § 14. Creation theory on the subject. § 15. 
Recapitulation. 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE APOSTASY OF ADAM. — P. 385. 
§ 1. We know not how sin could enter a holy being. — But it was by his free will. 
§ 2. Process of the apostasy. § 3. Its moral enormity. § 4. It was the depravation 
of the race. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PERMISSION OF MORAL EVIL. — P. 397. 
§ 1. Phases of optimism. § 2. New Haven theory, that God could not prevent sin. 
§ 3. Fallacy of optimism. — It degrades God. § 4. God can, but chooses not to prevent 
sin ; and by occasion of it reveals his highest moral glories. 

CHAPTER XIY. 

Paul's discussion of original sin. — P. 410. 

§ 1. General view of the epistle to the Romans. §§ 2, 3. Exegesis of ch. v. 12. 
I 4. Verses 13, 14. § 5. Verses 15-17. § 6. Verses IS, 19. § 7. Verses 20, 21. § 8. 
Doctrine of the apostle. § 9. Inbeing in Adam and in Christ. § 10. Dr. Hodge on the 
word, sin. § 11. '"'Regarded and treated." § 12. Christ "made sin." § 13. Bearing 
of Dr. H.'s view upon the scope of the apostle. § 14. Parallel of Adam and Christ. 
§ 15. Complacency in Christ's righteousness. § 16. Relation of this theory to the fall. 
1 17. Romans, chapter vi. §18. Chapter vii. §19. The doctrine. — Sin an indwelling 
power. § 20. Its origin in Adam. 

CHAPTER XY. 

DEFINITION OF GUILT AND OF IMPUTATION. P. 461. 

§ 1. Guilt is criminal liability. § 2. Definitions of Calvin, Marck, Van Mastricht, and 
Rutherford. § 3. Analysis of these. § 4. Usage of the Westminster standards. § 5. 
Imputation defined. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE GUILT OF ADAM'S FIRST SIN. P. 474. 

§ 1. Doctrine of imputation. § 2. Edwards on imputation. § 3. Arminian theory. 
§ 4. It is untenable. § 5. Use of the word, sin. § 6. Sinners only punished. § 7. 
Punishment without crime. § 8. Law of identity. § 9. Contrition due for the apostasy. 
§ 10. Sense of personal responsibility. §11. Our doctrine opposed to mediate imputa- 
tion. § 12. Adam's transgression, and the sins of our immediate parents. 



10 Contents. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

NATIVE DEPRAVITY. P. 510. 

$ 1. Pelagian and Socinian admissions. § 2. Facts of the case. § 3. Physical cor- 
ruption. § 4. Dr. Stuart's " innocent susceptibilities." g 5. Elements of depravity. — 
Want of righteousness, and actual depravity. § 6. Testimony of the Scriptures. § 7. 
Total inability. \ 8. "Natural ability." § 9. The crime one. § 10. Conclusion. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

PROPAGATION OF ORIGINAL SIN. — P. 529. 
£ 1. The doctrine. $ 2. Sin sometimes penally admitted, but never originated, by 
God. § 3. Edwards' doctrine. § 4. Penal privation theory. § 5. Conclusion. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE ETERNAL COVENANT. — P. 545. 
$ 1. The curse on man is stayed, g 2. History of the promise. § 3. The covenant 
with David. § 4. The eternal covenant, g 5. The Parties and terms. § 6. The Holy 
Spirit the Witness. § 7. It was a real covenant, g 8. Its date eternity. $ 9. Its 
beneficiaries the elect. \ 10. Its seal the oath of God. $ 11. It ordained the Son to 
be the Revealer of God. § 12. In its purview are comprehended all things and events. 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE SECOND ADAM. — P. 578. 
$ 1. Christ was truly a man. £ 2. The Mediator must be a man. § 3. Scripture 
testimony. $ 4. He was without sin. § 5. He is God. § 6. The church his body. — 
Scripture testimony. § 7. Nature of the union, g 8. Thus in him all fulness dwells. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Christ's obedience to the law. — p. 605. 

§ 1. Christ's obedience voluntary. § 2. How he came under the curse, g 3. He 
satisfied for his members. £ 4. He obeyed the precept. £ 5. He bore the curse. $ 6. 
Mr. Barnes' doctrine. $ 7. Christ bore the very penalty. £ 8. Particulars of his hu- 
miliation. § 9. His conflicts with Satan. \ 10. His last sufferings. \ 11. " It is finished." 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE LAST ADAM A QUICKENING SPIRIT. — P. 638. 

$ 1. Effectual calling. § 2. The new birth. § 3. Justification. § 4. Adoption. $ 5. 
Communion with God. $ 6. Sanctification. § 7. The resurrection. § 8. The church 
Christ's body. § 9. It is his witness. § 10. Its history and inheritance. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Christ's kingdom and glory. — p. 665. 

g 1. Recapitulation of the past. $ 2. Messiah's kingdom. £ 3. Its coming will be 
sudden. # 4. All flesh will be holy, g 5. Its duration will be long. § 6. Satan's last 
struggle. g 7. The last judgment, g 8. The kingdom delivered up to the Father. 
h 9. The New Jerusalem. 



INTRODUCTION. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE DOCTRINE OF ORIGINAL SIN. 



I 1. 

The Church of God has been called to engage in a continual conflict, 
not only with external enemies, but, much more, with corruptions and 
heresies within her own bosom. The whole scheme of grace was devised 
for the purpose of revealing to the creatures the truth concerning the 
nature and perfections of God ; and it is carried on through a testimony 
thereto. The principal exertions, therefore, of the father of lies have 
always been directed to the object of silencing or corrupting the church, 
— which is the pillar and ground of the truth, — so as to prevent her testi- 
mony to that doctrine which is according to godliness, by the instru- 
mentality of which his sceptre is broken and his slaves set free. At the 
same time, the King of Zion, who is Head over all things to the church, 
has permitted and overruled these machinations of the Serpent, so as to 
induce among his own people a clearer apprehension, and more affec- 
tionate embrace, of the truth. As often as the spirit of error has come 
in, the Spirit of the Lord has lifted up a standard against it. All needful 
truth was, from the beginning, deposited in the sacred oracles. But 
much of the testimony therein contained has always lain unappre- 
hended, until the oppositions of false science have brought it into ques- 
tion. Then has been fulfilled the promise of our Saviour : — " When he, 
the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." — John xvi. 
13. Thus, from age to age, has the doctrine of God been gradually un* 
folded in clearer light, and comprehended in a growing fulness by the 
true Israel of God. 

Of this mode of the divine economy, the history of the doctrine of 
Original Sin presents an interesting example. The essential principles 
of this doctrine were indeed held from the beginning ; but their precise 
significance, relations and boundaries, in the system of truth, have only 
been recognised and defined by a gradual process, through many conflicts 
with grievous heresies. 

11 



12 Introduction. 

I 2. Doctrine of Tertullian. 

The earliest post-apostolic exposition of the doctrine of our relation 
to the sin of Adam occurs in the works of Tertullian. This writer, 
having attained to a great age, died about the year 220 ; so that his 
career must have commenced within some fifty years of the death of 
the apostle John. He was one of the most learned and excellent of the 
Fathers, against whom the impeachment of Montanism seems merely to 
indicate the zeal with which he maintained a protest in behalf of 
spiritual religion, in opposition to a lifeless formalism, a reliance on 
outward rites and relations, — that mystery of iniquity, which already 
wrought with great vigour, in his time. Whatever weight, however, may 
be given by any one to the imputation here alluded to, it is entitled to 
no consideration as affecting his competence to testify as to the orthodox 
doctrine of original sin. The writings from which we make the following 
quotations are of a date prior to the time of his supposed defection to 
the party of Montanus, and hold no special relation to the peculiarities 
of that party. In fact, so highly were these writings esteemed, that 
Cyprian, the eminent bishop of Carthage, was accustomed to read a 
portion of them daily, and never designated him by any other title 
than that of " the master ." "His diction, and his spirit too, it has been 
supposed, were extensively propagated in the Latin church."* 

The doctrine of original sin which is found in the writings of Tertullian 
is briefly this. Adam was created at first in the image of God, subject to 
the law, and with liberty of will, and power to keep it or to transgress. 
The divine image, in which he was made, consisted in the endowments of 
his soul, chief among which was his freedom of will. In his person 
was embodied tjie nature of the entire race ; he was the fountain of the 
existence of all his offspring, who derive from him the being alike of body 
and soul ; both of which flow from him by generation, and with which 
they derive a part in his nature. As thus constituted, Adam, and in 
him the race, transgressed the law, and came under the curse of God. 
The transgression consisted; formally, in plucking the forbidden fruit ; 
essentially, in setting his will in opposition to the will of God. The 
result of the transgression is, the subjection of the nature of man to a 
power which is alien from God, — the enslaving of his powers to the god 
of this world. The consequence is, that the nature, thus depraved, is 
prone only to evil ; and it is therefore impossible that the corrupted 
tree should bear good fruit. The apostate heart cannot produce the 
works of holiness. But that which is impossible to man is possible with 
God, who can even of stones raise up children unto Abraham. 

Appropriating the name, spirit, to God alone, and designating the soul 
of man as an afflatus from God, Tertullian says of man's original estate, 

* Murdock's Mosheim, vol. i. p. 122, note. 



Historical Sketch. 13 

"The image cannot in all respects equal the reality. For it is one thing 
to be like the reality ; another, to be the very reality. So, also, the afflatus, 
since it is but the image of the Spirit, cannot present such a likeness of 
God, that inasmuch as the original, that is, the Spirit which is God, is 
without sin, therefore the image, the afflatus, must bo- held incapable of 
sin. In this, the image is inferior to the original, — the afflatus less ex- 
cellent than the Spirit; yet having the very lineaments of God, inas- 
much as the soul was immortal; as it was free, and subject to its own 
will ; as it was prescient of many things, rational, and capable of appre- 
hension and knowledge. Nevertheless, in these things it was but an 
image, and not endowed with the very energy of divinity. So neither 
was it beyond the reach of apostasy; because this is peculiar to God, the 
original; and not characteristic of the image."* "I find man created 
by God, free, and subject to his own will and power ; and perceive in him 
no nearer image and likeness of God, than the structure of this consti- 
tution. For in features and corporeal lineaments, which are so various 
in the human race, he does not exhibit a representation of God, whose 
likeness is one; but in that substance which he derived from God him- 
self, that is, his soul, conformed to the image of God, and enstamped with 
liberty and power of his own will. This state of liberty was confirmed 
by the very law which was given him by God. For a law would not have 
been set before one who had not in himself power to render the obedience 
which the law required. Nor would death have been threatened against 
transgression, if disregard of the law had not been predicable of the 
liberty of man's will."f "Man would have been good, if he had acted 
in conformity, indeed, with the will of God, but by the exercise of his 
own will, as flowing from the disposition of his nature. On the contrary, 
he would more clearly appear to be evil, (for this also God anticipated,) 
by virtue of his being free, and under his own power. And but for this 
provision, as he would not have embraced that which is right, voluntarily, 
but of necessity, so also he would have been subject to be overcome of 
evil, by reason of the infirmity of his servile condition ; being alike a 
slave, whether to good or evil. Entire liberty of will was therefore given 
to him, in respect both to good and evil ; that he might always be his 
own master ; alike spontaneously doing the right and avoiding the wrong. 
And since man was responsible to the bar of God, it behooved that he 
should work righteousness by the rectitude of his will, to wit, freely. 
Further, neither the rewards of good nor evil deeds may be assigned to 
him who is found to have been good or evil not voluntarily, but of ne- 
cessity. To this end also the law was ordained; not precluding but 
proving liberty, by obedience spontaneously rendered, or transgression 
spontaneously wrought. Thus, in any event the liberty of the will is 
manifested.'^ 

* Tertullianus adv. Marcionem, lib. ii. 9. | Ibid. 5. % md - 2 - 



14 Introduction. 

In respect to the relation of the will of God to the apostasy, Tertullian 
urges, that "it will justify every crime to assert nothing to happen with- 
out the approval of God. And the statement leads to the destruction 
of all morality, even that of God himself, — that any thing which he does 
not approve may be brought to pass by his will, or that nothing occurs 
which he does not approve. For since he forbids certain things, and 
threatens them with eternal punishment, he certainly does not will what 
he thus denounces, and with which he is offended. On the contrary, 
what he wills, he both commands, and treats with acceptance, and dis- 
tinguishes with eternal blessedness. Whilst, therefore, we learn from 
his precepts, what he approves and condemns ; the will and power of 
choosing the one or the other, belong to us ; as it is written, ' Behold, I 
have set before thee good and evil/ for thou hast tasted of the tree of 
knowledge. . . . Moreover, if you ask, whence is that will by which we 
choose that which is opposed to the will of God ; I answer, From our- 
selves. Nor do I speak lightly, (semini enim tuo respondeas necesse est,) 
for you must answer for the blood which you inherit ; since 'he, (princeps 
generis et delicti,) the author both of the race and of the apostasy, Adam, 
chose the transgression which he committed. Nor did the devil infuse 
into him the will to sin ; but only furnished occasion 'for the action of 
his own will."* 

Of the apostasy, he says that "brutish man, not receiving the things 
of the Spirit, accounted the law of God foolishness, and transgressed it. 
"Wherefore, not having faith, even that which he seemed to have was 
taken from him ; to wit, the possession of the garden, and communion 
with God, through which he would have known all the things of God, 
had he continued in obedience. What wonder, therefore, if — his works 
being returned upon himself, and he (in ergastulum terrse laborandae 
relegatus) confined in the bonds of earthly toil, and by his own deed 
debased and bowed down to the dust — he has thence transmitted to his 
entire race the common spirit of the world, altogether carnal and here- 
tical, not receiving the things of God ? For who will hesitate to desig- 
nate as heresy the crime which Adam committed, by following the bent 
of his own choice, rather than the mind of God? ,; f 

In the doctrine thus stated by Tertullian, and his kindred theory as 
to the origin of the soul, he seems truly to represent the theology of his 
age. We are aware that it is sometimes asserted that his doctrine was 
peculiar to himself, and not commonly held by the orthodox of his time. 
But we have failed to find a trace of evidence in support of the assertion. 
In his discussions, he assumes the position of an expounder and de- 
fender of the common faith on the subject, against the theories of philo- 
sophers and naturalists.^ He opposes the doctrine of Plato, as affording 

* Tertul. De Exhort. Cast. § 2. f Ibid. 2. J Tertul. De Anima, 3, 4. 



Historical Sketch. 15 

nourishment to every class of heretics,* and in all his discussions assumes 
the acquiescence of all Christians. Proposing to prove the generative 
origin of the soul, he says that it is immaterial from what quarter the 
question arises, "whether from philosophers, heretics, or the ignorant 
populace. It is of no importance, to the professors of the truth, who its 
enemies are, especially since, with such audacity, they deny the soul to 
be conceived in the womb, and assert it to be inserted from without into 
the body at the instant of birth." Entering upon the argument, — after 
a few sentences addressed to the Platonic philosophers, he turns to his 
brethren : — " I will pause in the argument, that what I answer to philo- 
sophers and naturalists I may prove to the Christian. For yourself, my 
brother, build your faith upon the foundation, " &c. He sketches a rapid 
argument from the Scriptures, from which he derives the result that 
"from one man have flowed the souls of all, nature obeying the original 
decree, ' Be fruitful, and multiply ;' for, in the very preface to the creation 
of the first man, his entire posterity is spoken of in the plural: — 'Let us 
make man, and let them have dominion.' ;, f He then returns to the doc- 
trines of the various schools of Greek philosophy, and engages in an ex- 
tended discussion, at the close of which he concludes, that, "in view of 
the ambitious theories of philosophers and heretics, and the stupid doc- 
trine of Plato, we have proved the soul to be generated in and of man 
himself, and that there was, from the beginning, one seed of it, as also 
of the flesh of the whole race. "J There seems to be no reason to doubt 
that this was the common doctrine of the church in that age. 

Of the depravity resulting from the apostasy, Tertullian says that "evil 
has possession of the soul, from the vice of origin, derived by nature, be- 
side that which results from the entrance of the spirit of evil. For, as 
we may say, corruption of nature is another nature, having its own god 
and father, the author of the corruption himself; yet so that there still 
remains good in the soul, — that original, divine and legitimate good 
which belongs to its very nature. For that which is from God is not so 
much extinguished as obscured; for it can be obscured, since it is not 
God, but it cannot be extinguished, because it is from God. Hence, as 
light, intercepted by any obstacle, remains, although invisible, if the 
intervening substance be sufficiently dense, — so also the good which is in 
the soul, overborne by evil, by virtue of its nature, is either wholly in- 
active, its light being hidden, or, finding liberty, shines where it may. 
Thus, there are the vile and the holy ; but yet the souls are all of one 
race. So, too, in the worst there is some good, and in the best some evil ; 
for God only is without sin, and Christ is the only sinless man, because 
he is also God. . . . Therefore, when a renewed soul acquires faith, by 
the new birth of water and the power of God, the veil of his former cor- 
ruption being removed, he sheds abroad all his light. He is also per- 

* De Anima, 23, 25. f Ibid - 25 " 27 - t **>&• 36 - 



16 Introduction. 

vaded by the Holy Spirit, as, from his former nativity, by a profane 
spirit."* 

\ 3. Hilary of Poictiers, and Ambrose of Milan. 

Hilary became bishop of Poictiers, in France, about the year 350. He 
was one of the most eminent men of the age, and stood conspicuous in 
his labours against Arian heresy. In his works the doctrine of the apos- 
tasy is identical with that of Tertullian. In his commentary upon Mat- 
thew xviii. 12 he says, "By the one sheep, man is to be understood, and 
(sub homine uno, universitas sentienda est) under the figure of one man 
is to be recognised the whole human species ; for in the apostasy of the 
one Adam the entire race of man apostatized/'!" Allegorizing our 
Saviour's parable of the divided house, (Matt. x. 34 and Luke xii. 52,) he 
says, "Here, therefore, are five dwelling in one house, divided three 
against two and two against three. But we only find in man three ; that 
is, body, soul and will. For as the soul is given to the body, so also the 
power is given to each of employing itself as it will. . . . But, from the 
sin and unbelief of our first parents to subsequent generations, sin began 
to be the father of our bodies, and unbelief the mother of our souls ; for 
from these, through the transgression of our first parents, we receive our 
origin. But the will is present to all. Therefore, now in one house there 
are five: sin, the father of the body, unbelief, the mother of the soul, and 
the authority of the will, which binds the whole man to itself by a kind 
of conjugal right." J 

Similar is the doctrine of Ambrose, bishop of Milan from 374 to 397: — 
" He, the first sinner of our race, (and, oh that he had been the only one!) 
before he had sinned, did not perceive himself to be naked, but after he 
had sinned he saw himself to be so ; and therefore thought to cover him- 
self with fig-leaves, because he found himself to be naked. He therefore 
made himself naked when he made himself guilty of crime. In him 
the whole human condition (omnis humana conditio), was made bare, — 
obnoxious, by succession of nature, not only to crime, but also to 
misery. "| Again, — " Our David confesses himself to have sinned, not 
in himself alone, but in the first man, when the divine command was 
transgressed. . . . Truly, we all have sinned in the first man, and, 
through the succession of nature, the succession of crime also is trans- 
fused from the one inio all. Against whom, then, have I sinned? Against 
the Father, or the Son? Truly, against him to whom I was under 
obligation for that which I sinned in not fulfilling. The command is 
given to man that he should eat of all that was in the garden, but 
should not touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam 

* De Anima, 41. 

f S. Hil. Opera. Commentarius in Matt. Can. xviii. ed. Parisii 1631, fol. 554. 

X Ibid. Can. x. fol. 513. 

g Apologia David, posterior, cap. viii. Op. Amb. Lut. Par., 1661, torn. i. fol. 512. 



Historical Sketch. 17 

is in each of us. In him the human condition fell, because sin has 
passed through the one into all. I see the sum of my debt. I see what 
an amount of crime I have contracted, whilst I taste the forbidden and 
interdicted fruit. I owe compensation for the crime which I have done, 
since the obligation due to heavenly authority could not preserve an 
untarnished faith. "* Again, in his commentary on Eomans v. 12, Am- 
brose says, " It is manifest that in Adam, as in mass, all sinned. For he, 
being corrupt through sin, bega't all his offspring under sin. By him, 
therefore, we all are sinners, because we all are of him."f 

\ 4. Doctrine of Pelagius and his associates. 

The Platonic theory of Origen, as to the pre-existence of the souls of 
men, and their several apostasy and fall in that pre-existent state, con- 
stituted a signal departure from the accepted doctrine of the church on 
the subject of original sin, and prepared the way for subsequent errors. 
But it was not until a century and a half after his death that the opinions 
adopted by Pelagius and his associates, Celestius and Julian, and dis- 
seminated by them with great zeal, gave occasion to that controversy 
which resulted in the more full exposition and defence of the scriptural 
doctrine on the subject. The Pelagian system is stated, with sufficient 
accuracy for our purpose, by Dr. Wiggers, himself an apologist for those 
whose doctrine he exhibits, in the following propositions: — 

" 1. A propagation of sin by generation is by no means to be admitted. 
This physical propagation of sin can be admitted only when we grant 
the propagation of the soul by generation. But this is a heretical error. 
Consequently, there is no original sin ; and nothing in the moral nature 
of man has been corrupted by Adam's sin. 

"Besides the passages already quoted, the following may suffice as 
proof that this was a Pelagian tenet. In his commentary on Romans 
vii. 8, Pelagius remarks: — 'They are insane who teach that the sin of 
Adam comes to us (per traducem) by propagation.* In another passage, 
(which, indeed, is not now to be found in that very interpolated work, 
— but which Augustine quotes from it, verbatim, — De Pec. Mer. hi. 3,) 
Pelagius says, ' The soul does not come by propagation, but only the 
flesh; and so, this only has the propagated sin, and this only deserves 
punishment. But it is unjust that the soul born to-day, that has not come 
from the substance of Adam, should bear so old and extrinsic a sin.' 
And the Pelagians discarded the propagation of souls by generation, — 
which seemed to lead to materialism, — and assumed that every soul is 
created immediately by Grod. In Pelagius' confession of faith, it is said. 
' We believe that souls are given by G-od ; and say that they are made 
by himself/ . . . 

* Apologia David, posterior, cap. xii. fol. 519. f Opera, torn. iii. fol. 269. 

2 



18 Introduction. 

" 2. Adam's transgression was imputed to himself, but not to his pos- 
terity. A reckoning of Adam's sin as that of his posterity would con- 
flict with the divine rectitude. Hence, bodily death is no punishment 
of Adam's imputed sin, but a necessity of nature. 

"From the commentary of Pelagius on Romans, Augustine quotes his 
words thus, (De Pec. Mer. hi. 3,) 'It can in no way be conceded that 
God, who pardons a man's own sins, may impute to him the sins of 
another.' In his book ' On Nature/ Pelagius says, ' How can the sin be 
imputed, by God, to the man, which he has not known as his own ?' — De 
Nat. et Gt. 30. If God is just, he can attribute no foreign blame to 
infants. 'Children, so long as they are children, that is, before they do 
any thing by their own will, cannot be punishable (rei).' — Op. Imp. ii. 
42. ' According to the apostle, by one man sin came into the world, 
and death by sin : because the world has regarded him as a criminal, and 
as one condemned to perpetual death. But death has come upon all men 
because the same sentence reaches all transgressors of the succeeding 
period ; yet neither holy men nor the innocent have had to endure this 
death, but only such as have imitated him by transgression/ — ii. 66. . . . 

" 3. Now, as sin itself has no more passed over to Adam's posterity 
than has the punishment of sin, so every man, in respect to his moral 
nature, is born in just the same state in which Adam was created. 

" Augustine quotes (De Nat. et Gr. 21) from Pelagius' book, a passage 
in which it is said, ' What do you seek ? They [infants] are well for 
whom you seek a physician. Not only are Adam's descendants no 
weaker than he, but they have even fulfilled more commands, since he 
neglected to fulfil so much as one.' In the letter to Demetrius, Pelagius 
depicts the prerogatives of human nature, without making any dis- 
tinction between Adam's state before the fall and after it. Take only 
the description of conscience in the fourth chapter. 'A good conscience 
itself decides respecting the goodness of human nature. Is it not a 
testimony, which nature herself gives of her goodness, when she shows 
her displeasure at evil? There is in our heart, so to express myself, a 
certain natural holiness, which keeps watch, as it were, in the castle of 
the soul, and judges of good and evil.' . . . 

" But with this Pelagian view of the uncorrupted state of man's nature, 
the admission of a moral corruption of men, in their present condition, 
by the continued habit of sinning, stood in no contradiction, This Pe- 
lagius taught expressly. According to the eighth chapter of his letter to 
Demetrius, he explicitly admits, that, by the protracted habit of sinning, 
sin appears in a measure to have gained a dominion over human nature, 
and, consequently, renders the practice of virtue difficult. 'While na- 
ture was yet new, and a long-continued habit of sinning had not spread, 
as it were, a mist over human reason, nature was left without a [written] 
law ; to which the Lord, when it was oppressed by too many vices, and 



Historical Sketch. 19 

stained with the mist of ignorance, applied the file of the law, in order 
that, by its frequent admonitions, nature might be cleansed again and 
return to its lustre. And there is no other difficulty of doing well but 
the long-continued habit of vice, which has contaminated us from youth 
up, and corrupted us for many years, and holds us afterwards so bound 
and subjugated to herself that she seems, in a measure, to have the force 
of nature.' Here Pelagius also mentions the bad education by which we 
are led to evil. But this habit of sinning, however, affects only adults, 
and that by their own fault. According to the Pelagian theory, man is 
born in the same state, in respect to his moral nature, in which Adam 
was created by God."* 

\ 5. Doctrine of Augustine. 

The great antagonist of Pelagius was Augustine. In respect to the 
fundamental doctrine of the Pelagian system, — on the origin of the soul, 
he seems never to have assumed a decided position. He, however, con- 
stantly leaned to the doctrine of its generative origin. Writing to Jerome, 
who very strongly assailed that view, the bishop of Hippo declares that, 
"neque orando, neque legendo, neque meditando, neque ratiocinando/' 
neither by prayer, by reading, by meditation, nor by reasoning, was he 
able, upon the assumption of the immediate creation of souls, to obviate 
the difficulty concerning the propagation of sin.f In his first book, De 
Anima et ejus Origine, after a review of the arguments upon which reli- 
ance was placed to establish the immediate-creation theory, he exclaims, 
"Let no one, therefore, imagine that, if the doctrine of the propagation 
of souls be false, it is to be refuted by such arguments ; or, if the position 
that they are breathed into the bodies immediately by God, be true, that 
it is to be maintained by such reasoning.";); 

In reference to his correspondence with Jerome on this subject, Augus- 
tine says, "I wrote two books to Jerome, a presbyter of Bethlehem, — one 
of them concerning the origin of the soul of man. ... In this I do not 
solve the question which I propose. He responded, commending (con- 
sultationem meam) my spirit of investigation, but declaring himself 
unable immediately to reply to my inquiries. So long as he was in the 
body I refrained from publishing this book, lest he might yet answer, 
and it would be better that it be published with his reply. But after his 
death I published it, so that he who reads it may be admonished either 
to abstain altogether from inquiry as to the mode in which souls are given 
to the offspring, or, on a subject certainly very obscure, to admit that 
solution of the question which is consistent with the most evident facts 

* An Historical Presentation of Augustinism and Pelagian ism. By Gr. F. Wiggers, 
D.D. Translated by Rev. R. Emerson : Andover, 1840, p. 84. 

f Aug. Epist. xxviii. ad Hieron. J Aug. De Anima et ejus Orig. lib. i. c. 19. 



20 Introduction. 

which the catholic faith recognises, respecting original sin in infants ; who, 
unless renewed in Christ, will assuredly perish."* 

Perhaps the reason of his ambiguity on this subject had reference to 
the impeachments of the Pelagians, who continually asserted that he 
was still infected with the Manichean heresy of his youth and cited this 
doctrine as evidence. On this point he says, of his six books in reply to 
Julian, that "in the first two, by means of the testimonies of the saints, 
who, after the apostles, have defended the catholic faith, the impudence 
of Julian is repelled, who thought to object it against us as a Manichean 
dogma, because we assert original sin to be derived from Adam, which, 
by the washing of regeneration, is taken away, not only in adults, but in 
infants also. To what an extent some of Julian's own sentiments harmo- 
monize with the Manicheans, I showed in the last part of my first 
book."f 

In respect to the apostasy and original sin, the following were the lead- 
ing points of the doctrine which Augustine vindicated against the Pela- 
gians : — 

1. The whole human nature was created holy in the person of Adam. 

2. It was so constituted, in its creation, that any act of sin would bind 
the nature which caused it in the bondage of depravity, as a natural 
necessity resulting from the sin. This necessary bondage he designates 
as the first element in the punishment of sin. 

3. Adam was endowed with the generative faculty, by means of which 
his seed, who were one in him, should receive personal existence, and a 
several part in the common nature. 

4. The transgression of Adam induced the subjection of the whole 
nature to the bondage of the depravity thus embraced ; which, as it is 
not caused by any immediate divine interposition, but is the native and 
proper effect of the sin, is, therefore, not only a punishment of the sin, 
but an element of the criminality which thenceforth attaches to man's 
nature. 

5. As each of the posterity of Adam receives existence, he with his 
birth acquires a part in the criminality of the first sin, and in the depra- 
vity so induced. 

6. The sin and depravity thus arising involve Adam and all his pos- 
terity in the penalty of all earthly calamities, and eternal death ; from 
which nothing but the redemption of Christ can save. 

7. The bondage of sin is such that, as there is no escaping its curse 
but by the blood of Christ, so there is no freedom from its power but by 
the transforming Spirit of God. 

A few extracts will be sufficient to illustrate the views presented by 
Augustine on these points. In reply to the Pelagians, who urged that 
(aliena peccata) foreign sins could not be justly imputed to any, he says, 

* Aug. Retractations, lib. ii. f Ibid. 



Historical Sketch. 21 

" Nor are those sins called foreign as though they belonged not at all to 
infants ; since in Adam all then sinned, inasmuch as his nature was en- 
dowed with a power of producing those who as yet were (omnes ille 
unus) all one, to wit, he. But the sins are called foreign, because the 
posterity were not yet living their own lives ; but whatever was to be in 
the future offspring, the life of the one man contained. ' Bat by no 
means is it to be admitted/ say they, (the Pelagians,) 'that God, who par- 
dons men's own sins, should impute foreign sins.' He pardons ; but by 
the Spirit of regeneration, not by the flesh of generation. They were, 
indeed, foreign, when they, who when propagated were to bear them, did 
not yet exist ; but now, by carnal generation, they belong to those to 
whom they have not yet been forgiven through the spiritual regenera- 
tion."* Equally clear is the statement which we quote on page 496 of the 
present work. Again, he says ; 

" In respect to the origin of the seed, from which all were to spring, 
all were in that individual ; and all these are he, none of whom as yet 
existed individually. According to this seminal origin, Levi is said to 
have been in the loins of his father Abraham. — When, in respect to his 
substance, he did not yet exist, still, as respects the relation of seed, it is 
not falsely nor idly said, that he was there."! " The whole human race 
(universum genus humanum) which by the woman was to become his 
offspring, was in the first man, when the pair received the divine sentence 
of condemnation. And what man was, not by creation, but by sin and 
punishment, that he begat, so far, at least, as pertains to the origin of sin 
and death. "J "I have said that sin injures no nature but its own; I 
therefore said it, because he who injures a good man does him in fact no 
injury, since it really increases his heavenly reward. . . . The Pelagians 
are ready to pervert this sentiment to the support of their dogma, and 
to say, that infants therefore cannot be injured by (aliena peccata) the 
sins of another, because I have asserted sins to injure no nature but their 
own : not observing that infants, as they pertain to the human nature, 
therefore contract original sin; because in the first man the human 
nature sinned, and, hence, it is true that human nature is injured by 
no sins but its own."$ 

Great exception was taken by the Pelagians to that feature of the sys- 
tem of Augustine which represents the bondage of the nature of man to 
sin as being a punishment of the apostasy ; and the outcry is still re- 
echoed by the disciples of the Pelagian school. As is usual in such cases, 
these writers begin by misrepresenting the doctrine which they decry. 
Dr. Wiggers states it thus: — " The propagation of Adam's sin among his 
posterity, is a punishment of the same sin. The sin was the punishment 

* Aug. de Pec. Mer. lib. iii. 7, 8. f Opus Imperfectum, lib. iv. 104. 

X De Civ. Dei, lib. xiii. 3. I Retract, lib. i. cap. 10. 



22 Introduction. 

of the sin. The corruption of human nature in the whole race, was 
the righteous punishment of the transgression of the first man, in whom 
all men already existed."* "The most signal moral punishment of 
Adam's transgression, was, therefore, the sin itself, or the moral corrup- 
tion, that passed over to his posterity, by which Adam was also punished 
in his descendants. . . . But the moral punishment of Adam's sin was 
also a positive punishment of it. An entire moral ruin of man, did not 
follow from the nature of Adam's transgression, but God had annexed 
this to it as a punishment ; and it was made a condition by the prohibition. 
God punished sin with sin. The sinfulness of the whole human race is 
penal. "f The zeal which this writer displays in charging this as the doc- 
trine of Augustine, does not compensate for the lack of evidence in its 
support. What Augustine did teach on this point we shall presently see. 
That he did not hold the opinion thus attributed to him, — that the race 
are depraved, not by the natural effect of the sin, but by the positive in- 
terposition of God, — is sufficiently demonstrated by the very quotations 
with which Wiggers professes to prove his assertions. — "If Christ is the 
one in whom all are justified, because not the mere imitation of him 
makes them just, but grace regenerating by the Spirit ; so is Adam there- 
fore the one in whom all have sinned, because not the mere imitation of 
him makes them sinners, but the punishment generating by the flesh. "J 
"We must distinguish three things: — sin, the punishment of sin, and 
that which in such manner is sin, that it is at the same time also 
the punishment of sin. Of the third kind is original sin, which is so 
sin that it is also the punishment.of sin ; which is indeed in children 
just born, but begins to appear in them as they grow up and have the 
needful wisdom. Yet the source of this sin descends from the will of 
him that sinned. For it was Adam ; and in him we all were. Adam 
perished; and in him we all perished. "| "By the first pair, so great a 
sin was committed, that by it human nature was changed for the worse, 
an obligation (obligatione, a bondage) of sin and a necessity of death 
being transmitted to posterity." || Such are some of the passages of Au- 
gustine which Wiggers cites, to prove that he held the depravation of 
man's nature to have been, not a natural consequence of the apostasy, 
but a positive infliction from God ! Nor have we been able to find any 
thing more plausible, to justify the charge here considered. 

Neander, with more candour, states Augustine's doctrines. "Man is 
already determined within himself by his disposition before he proceeds 
to act. Evil and good cannot spring from the same root. The good tree 
cannot bring forth evil fruit, nor the evil tree good fruit. The root from 
which all good proceeds, is love to God ; the root of all evil, is love to self. 

* Wiggers' Augustinism and Pelagianism, p. 88. f Ibid. pp. 92, 93. 

% Aug. De Pee. Mer. lib. i. 15. g Opus Imperfectum, lib. i. 47. 

I! De Civ. Dei, lib. xiv. 1. 



Historical Sketch. 23 

According as man is predominantly actuated by love to God, or love to 
himself, he brings to pass that which is good, or that which is evil. That 
[Pelagian] definition of free will, he maintains, cannot apply to God nor 
to holy beings. It in fact presupposes a corruption of the moral powers, 
and loses its applicability the more in proportion as man advances farther 
in moral development, — in proportion as he advances to true freedom. 
At the highest point of moral advancement, freedom and necessity meet 
together; the rational being acts with freedom, in determining himself 
according to the inward law of his nature. . . . Proceeding on the above- 
stated conception of freedom, Augustine must believe that he found in 
the actual appearance of human nature, an opposition to the freedom 
which was so apprehended ; inasmuch as this true conception of freedom 
is in this case nowhere applicable. Man uniformly finds himself in a 
state contradicting this freedom, — in a condition of bondage to sin. Thus 
this determinate conception of freedom leads Augustine to the presup- 
position of a corruption of human nature, and of an original moral con- 
dition which preceded it. And cohering also with this is the thought 
that, when once this original freedom had been disturbed by the first 
freely chosen aberration from the law of the original nature, a state of 
bondage followed after the state of freedom. As human nature, evolving 
itself in conformity with its condition by nature, surrendering itself to 
the godlike, becomes continually more confirmed and established in true 
freedom ; so, in surrendering itself to sin, it becomes continually more 
involved in the bondage of sin; to which Augustine frequently applies 
the words of Christ : ' He who commits sin is the servant of sin.' Evil 
is its own punishment, as goodness is its own reward."* Such was the 
sense in which Augustine represented sin as the punishment of sin. As 
we have already seen, he denies that it can injure any nature but that 
of the sinner ; and that the posterity of Adam are only injured by sin, 
as it was the sin of their nature as well as his. He held the depravity to 
be penally from God in the sense that the Creator, in making man, so 
constructed his nature, that the embrace of sin would constitute an en- 
slaving of the nature to its power, — a slavery growing out of the very 
nature of sin in its relation to the soul ; and in no sense caused by the 
interposition of God; but from which nothing but the power of God is 
adequate to relieve the soul. 

In reference to the broad line of distinction w r hich runs between the 
powers of nature, — the operation of second causes, — and the immediate 
agency of God, as bearing upon this whole subject, the ground taken 
by Augustine is clearly defined. "The whole of this ordinary course of 
nature has certain natural law T s of its own, according to which, even 
the spirit of life, which is a created substance, has its specific appetites, 

* Neander's Church History, Torrey's translation, vol. ii. p. 602. 



24 Introduction. 

but bounded in a certain way, which even the corrupted will cannot pass. 
And the elements of this material world have a definite power and 
quality, — what each one can or cannot do, and what can or cannot be 
done respecting each. From these, as the primordial sources, all things 
which are generated take, each in its time, their origin and growth, and 
the limits and modifications of their respective kinds. Hence it happens 
that pulse is not produced from wheat, nor wheat from pulse — man from 
beast, nor beast from man. But, besides this natural movement and 
course of things, the power of the Creator hath in itself a capacity to do, 
concerning all these, otherwise than their own (quasi seminal es ration es) 
natural powers can do. Yet neither can that which he has implanted in 
them, relative to these powers, be exercised independently of him, nor 
yet does he assert his omnipotence by the exercise of an intrusive, arbi- 
trary force, but by the power of wisdom ; and, concerning each particular 
thing, in his own time he does that which he had before created in it a 
capacity to have done. It is, therefore, a different mode of things by 
which this plant germinates so, and that in a different way ; — this time of 
life is prolific, and that is not ; — a man can speak, and an animal cannot. 
The (rationes) efficient causes of these and the like modes of operation are 
not merely in God, but are also by him implanted and concreated in the 
things he has made. But that wood, cut from off the earth, dry, polished, 
without any root, without earth or water, should suddenly flourish and 
bear fruit, — that a woman, barren in youth, should bear a child in old 
age, — that an ass should speak, — and whatever there is of this kind, he 
gave it, indeed, to the natures he created, that these things might take 
place with them. So that he does not with them what, in creating them, 
he had made impossible to be done with them; since he is not more 
powerful than himself. But he constituted things in a distinctive manner, 
so that they should not have these phenomena in the natural course of 
things, but in that way, for which they were thus so created, that their 
nature should be fully subject to a more powerful will. God, therefore, 
has in himself the hidden causes of certain acts, which causes he has not 
implanted in the things he has made ; and these causes he puts in opera- 
tion, not in that work of providence by which he creates natures as they 
are, but in that by which he manages, after his pleasure, the things which, 
according to his pleasure, he made. And here is the grace by which 
sinners are saved. For, as it respects nature, depraved by its own cor- 
rupted will, it has in itself no return, except by God's grace, whereby it 
is aided and restored. Nor need men despair by reason of that saying, — 
Prov. ii. 19, — ' None who walk in it shall return ;' for it was spoken of 
the burden of their iniquity, in order that whoever returns should 
attribute his return, not to himself, but to the grace of God — 'not of 
works, lest any should boast/ Therefore the apostle speaks of the 
mystery of this grace as hidden, — not in this world, in which are hidden 



Historical Sketch. 25 

the causal reasons of all things which arise naturally, as Levi was hid 
in the loins of Abraham, but in God, who created all things/'* 

In respect to God's sovereign relation to sin, he declares that "Some 
things God both produces and ordains ; others he only produces. The 
holy he both produces and ordains ; but sinners, so far forth as they are 
sinners, he does not produce, but only ordains. "f And, with a still more 
specific reference to the present point, he says, in respect to the language 
of Paul in Romans ix. 18-20, " We seek for the meritorious cause of the 
hardening, and we find it ; for (peccatiuniversamassadamnataest) the whole 
lump of sin is condemned, deservedly. Nor does God harden by impart- 
ing depravity, but by not imparting mercy ; for they to whom it is not 
imparted are neither worthy nor deserving of it, but rather, that it should 
not be imparted, of this they are worthy, this they have deserved. But 
we seek for the merit of mercy, and do not find it, for there is none ; else 
grace is made void, if rendered to merit, and not freely bestowed." J 

That the doctrine of Augustine, in opposition to the Pelagian heresy, 
was that of the catholic church, and not a new invention of the bishop 
of Hippo, as is asserted by Wiggers and the apologists of Pelagius, is mani- 
fest from facts which that writer himself records : — the secrecy of the first 
proceedings of the Pelagians; the prevarications and falsehoods with 
which, when brought to trial, they veiled their opinions; and the unani- 
mous condemnation which those opinions received, even from those 
synods who, misled by the duplicity of Pelagius and his associates, 
acquitted them of the charge of holding the obnoxious sentiments. It 
is further evident from the universal acceptance which was accorded to 
the teachings of Augustine on the subject, and to the decrees of those 
synods and councils by which Pelagianism was condemned. 

\ 6. The Medieval Theology. 

It is not our design to trace, in detail, the history of opinion on the 
present subject during the middle ages. Nominally, the theology of 
Augustine was universally received by the church of Rome. But, in 
reality, the growing corruption of that church produced some essential 
changes in this as well as the other doctrines of religion. About the 
beginning of the twelfth century, the Nominal philosophy, introduced by 
Rosceline and extensively adopted, combined with other causes to give 
a powerful impulse to Pelagian tendencies. According to the philosophy 
which prevailed prior to the rise of this sect, such universal conceptions 
as those of species, genera, and nature have, as their ground, some kind 
of objective realities. They are not the mere result of thought, but have, 
in some proper sense, a real existence, and lie, as essences, at the base 
of the existence of all individuals and particulars. From the Stoical 

* De Genesi ad Literam, lib. ix. 17, 18. f De Genesi ad Lit. lib. i. v. 

% Epist. 105, iii. Op. Aug., Parisii ed. 1836, Ep. 194, £ 14. 



26 Introduction. 

philosophy, Eoseeline introduced the opposite doctrine, — that only indi- 
viduals have any real existence. General conceptions are the mere 
result of logical combinations of thought. They are but abstractions, 
which have no objective significance. They are mere names, and not 
things. Hence the designation of Nominalists, by which this sect of 
philosophers is distinguished. In Eoseeline himself the skeptical tend- 
ency of the Nominal theory developed itself in questions and contro- 
versies respecting the personality of the Three who subsist in the divine 
Essence, and the nature of that Essence, — which do not fall within our 
present inquiry. His most eminent disciple, Abelard, who was also the 
great expositor of the new philosophy, illustrates, in his writings, its 
bearing upon the subject of original sin. Eejecting the Augustinian doc- 
trine of a universal human nature which was in the first man, he was 
constrained to reject with it the whole doctrine of original sin peculiar 
to that system. Hence, he expounds Eomans v. 12 as meaning no more 
than that the sin of Adam involves his children in the punishment, but 
not in the guilt ; and by the word, sin, understands that, not the crime, 
but the penalty, is, by metonymy, designated. ''He could not cast off the 
theory that all continued subject to those punishments that had passed 
upon them from Adam ; and, indeed, in order to free himself from it, it 
would have been necessary for him to assume an entirely different posi- 
tion towards the church doctrine of his time, and to make a far more 
thorough and resolute application of the thoughts which he had expressed. 
But, resolved as he was to hold fast on the above determinations of the 
church doctrine, while he refused at the same time to acknowledge the 
catholic doctrine concerning original guilt and sin, it could not be 
otherwise than that, from his own point of view, which would not allow 
him to acknowledge the mysterious connection between the develop- 
ment of the entire race and original sin, God must appear only so much 
the more as a being who acted arbitrarily and unjustly. Thus he was 
driven from rationalism to the most abrupt supernaturalism, falling 
back, as the last resort, upon the unlimited will of the Creator, who may 
dispose of his creatures according to his own pleasure. He thinks that 
those who are punished without any guilt of their own can no more 
complain, than the brutes which God has appointed for the service of 
man, can enter into judgment with him. He goes to the extreme of 
making the distinction of right and wrong to depend on the divine will ;* 
a representation which, it is evident, directly contradicts his doctrine of 
God's omnipotence. "f 

* " Hac ratione profiteor, quoquomodo Deus creaturam suam tractare velit, nullius 
injurise potest argui. Nee malum aliquo modo potest dici, quod juxta ejus voluntatem 
fiat. Non enim aliter bonum a malo disoernere possumus, nisi quod ejus est consen- 
taneum voluntati et in placito ejus consistit." — Lib. ii. p. 595. 

f Neander, vol. iv. p. 494. 



Historical Sketch. 27 

In the midst of surrounding developments of error, Odo, or Udardus, 
of Tournay, a contemporary of Abelard, exhibits an illustrious example 
of the lingering power of Augustine ; as he was, also, of the fervent 
piety which occasionally shone amid the shadows of" the " dark ages." 
At first a teacher of the realistic philosophy, in the cathedral school at 
Tournay, he was attended by crowds of enthusiastic pupils from France, 
Germany and the Netherlands. In his school, engaging in the exposi- 
tion of Augustine's work De Libero Arbitrio, he came to a passage which 
sets forth the wretched condition of those whose souls are devoted to 
earthly pursuits, to the forfeiture of heavenly glory. Applying the 
argument to himself and his ambitious scholars, so greatly was he moved 
by his own expostulations, that, bursting into tears, he rose from the 
chair, and, followed by a number of his pupils, went forth to the church, 
where he devoted himself to the pursuit of those* higher honours which 
come from God. He became as eminent for piety and zeal in defence of 
the gospel, as formerly in the walks of philosophy ; and was, suc- 
cessively, abbot of St. Martin of Tours, and, in 1105, chosen bishop of 
Cambray. Among his writings are three books on original sin, from 
which a paragraph will serve to exhibit the thoroughly Augustinian tone 
of his theology : — 

" What is the difference between native and personal sin? For sin is 
spoken of in two modes, — as natural and personal. That is natural with 
which we are born, which we derive from Adam, in whom we all sinned. 
For in him was my soul, — generically, and not personally ; not individu- 
ally, but in the common nature. For the common nature of all human 
souls was, in Adam, involved in sin. And therefore every human 
soul is criminal, as to its nature; although not so personally. Thus the 
sin which we sinned in Adam, to me indeed is a sin of nature, but in him 
a personal sin. In Adam it is more criminal, in me less so ; for in him, it 
was not I who now am, but that which I am, that sinned. There sinned 
in him, not I, but this which is I. I sinned as (generically) man, and 
not as Odo. My substance sinned, but not my person; and since the sub- 
stance does not exist otherwise than in a person, the sin of my substance 
attaches to my person, although not a personal sin. For a personal sin 
is such as, — not that which I am, — but I who now am, commit, — in which 
Odo, and not- humanity, sins, — in which I a person, and not a nature, 
sin. But inasmuch as there is no person without a nature, the sin of a 
person is also the sin of a nature, although it is not a sin of nature. "•* 

* It is impossible to render into English the terseness and perspicuity of the original. 
"Quid distat naturale peccatuni et personale? Dieitur enim duobus modis peccatuni 
personale et naturale. Et naturale est cum quo nascimur, et quod ab Adam trahimus, 
in quo omnes peccavimus. In ipso enim erat animamea, specie non persona, non in- 
dividua sed comrauni natura. Nam omnis humanae animae natura communis erat in 
Adam obnoxia peccato. Et ideo omnis humana anima culpabilis est secundam suam 



28 Introduction. 

Other causes combined with the Nominal philosophy to corrupt the 
doctrines concerning man's nature and original sin. We have seen that 
Augustine warns his readers, that in respect to the origin of the soul they 
should either be content to leave the question undiscussed, or adopt the 
theory of natural propagation, as alone consistent with the scriptural 
doctrine of our relation to Adam. The schoolmen, however, accepted 
neither branch of the alternative of Augustine, but, on the contrary, 
adopted the theory of immediate creation; and the subtleties of the 
scholastic dialectics were employed in the construction of a system in 
harmony with this theory, and yet maintaining the semblance of con- 
sistency with the Augustinian teachings on the subject of original sin. 
The doctrine respecting the nature of man was also essentially modified. 
The distinction of bona naturalia and bona gratuita was introduced. Accord- 
ing to one form of this theory, the first man was endowed with all the 
natural powers of the soul in full vigour and purity, and a will free and 
uncorrupt. By the right use of these powers, he was capable of continu- 
ing in the untarnished integrity of his original estate. But in order to 
positive righteousness, — to which these natural powers were altogether 
inadequate, — in order to the accomplishing of any thing which should 
be positively good, and constitute the perfect likeness of God, he must 
be invested with supernatural and special gifts of divine grace. This 
special grace was not bestowed at first ; but reserved until, by the right 
use of his natural powers, man should have qualified himself for the 
reception of it, and merited in a certain sense its bestowal. 

By Thomas Aquinas and the Dominicans, this opinion was so far modi- 
fied, that they held the distinction between the state of pure nature and 
that resulting from the superaddition of special grace, to be, indeed, just, 
forasmuch as original righteousness was not of the nature of man, but 
consequent upon the special and supernatural aid of divine grace, with- 
out which its attainment was impossible. But they taught that this special 
grace was at the beginning bestowed upon man ; so that he was endowed 
with original righteousness from the first. The difference, however, be- 
tween the two theories is more apparent than real, even upon this point; 
since Thomas held it as the most probable opinion that man was created 
in a state of pure nature, but endowed with powers which were necessa- 
rily active; and, having been created with a heavenward direction, he 

naturain, etsi non secundum suam personam. Ita peccatum quo peccavimus in Adam, 
mihi quidam naturale est, in Adam vero personale. In Adam gravius; levius in me; 
nam peccavi in eo, non qui sum sed quod sum. Peccaviin eo, non ego, sed hoc, quod 
sum ego. Peccavi homo, non Odo. Peccavi substantia, non persona: et quia sub- 
stantia non est nisi in persona, peccatum substantiae est etiam personse, sed non per- 
sonale. Peccatum vero personale est quo facio ego qui sum, non hoc quod sum; quo 
pecco Odo, non homo; quo pecco persona, non natura; sed quia persona non est sine 
natura, peccatum personge est etiam naturse, sed non naturale." — Biblioth. Vet. Pat. 
vol. xxi. p. 233, in Beecher's Conflict of Ages, p. 319. 



Historical Sketch. 29 

instantly turned to God, and attained to the possession of supernatural 
grace and original righteousness. 

According, however, to either branch of this theory, the whole doctrine 
of original sin is essentially modified. By the first transgression, man 
was not divested of natural goodness, nor a real aricl positive depravity 
superinduced. Only the supernatural grace, and, by consequence, original 
righteousness, was taken away, and the natural powers, the bona naturalia, 
were disordered. "Habit," says Aquinas, "is twofold. There is one in 
which a power is inclined to action, as knowledges and virtues are habits ; 
and in this sense original sin is not a habit. In another sense, habit, 
designates (dispositio alicujus naturae) an arrangement of any nature 
which is composed of several things, according to which (bene se habet, 
vel male) it is characterized by excellence, or the reverse; and especially 
when such an arrangement so bears, as it were, upon the nature that it 
constitutes disorder or soundness. And in this sense original sin is a 
habit; for it is a certain disorderly arrangement, resulting from the dis- 
solution of that harmony, in which consisted the principle of original 
righteousness; — as, also, bodily sickness is a disorderly arrangement of 
the body, by which is destroyed the equilibrium in which consists the 
principle of health ; whence also original sin is called a languor of the 
nature. To the question, therefore, whether original sin is a habit merely, 
it is to be answered, that as bodily sickness has something privative, as 
the equilibrium of health is taken away, and something positive, to wit, 
the humours occupying disorderly relations, — so original sin has the pri- 
vation of original righteousness, and with this a disorderly arrangement 
of the parts of the soul. Hence, it is not a thing merely privative; but 
is also a sort of corrupt habit."* 

Well might Luther say, of this doctrine, that, "as it takes from the 
magnitude of original sin, it is to be shunned as a deadly poison." Out 
of the former branch of the theory — cherished by the Franciscans, the 
advocates of the Nominal philosophy — was at length developed the Molina- 
Pelagian ism of the Jesuits, — the theology which is now dominant in the 
church of Rome. The theory of Aquinas is reproduced^n those Protest- 
ant writers who, by means of the distinctions of pure, impure and not- 
pure, as applied to the soul of man, attempt to reconcile the assertion of 
its immediate creation with the fact of its actual depravity. 

\ 7. The earlier Reformed Confessions. 
The first Basle confession, 1532. 
"We confess man, at the first, to have been made wholly after the 
image of God, in righteousness and holiness. But (sua sponte) by his own 
will he fell into sin ; by which fall the whole human race is become cor- 
rupt, and subject to damnation. 

* S. Thorn. Aquin. Sum. Theol., Pars prima secundse, Qu. lxxxii. 1. 



30 Introduction. 

"Our nature is also vitiated, and has acquired such a tendency to sin, 
that, unless renewed by the Holy Spirit, man can of himself neither do 
nor will any thing good/' 

The second Basle or first Helvetic confession, 1536. 

" Man, when he had been created by a holy God the perfect image of 
God upon earth, having precedence over all the visible creatures, and con- 
sisting of soul and body, of which the latter was mortal, the former im- 
mortal, (sua culpa in vitium prolapsus,) by his own crime falling into de- 
pravity, drew with him in the same ruin the whole human race, and 
rendered it obnoxious to the same calamity. 

" This plague, which they call, original, has so pervaded the whole 
human race that the child of wrath and enemy of God can be recovered 
by no power but that of God, through Christ. For, if any good fruit sur- 
vives, it is continually enfeebled by our vices, and turned to corruption ; 
for the power of evil prevails, and neither permits men to yield to the 
guidance of reason nor to cultivate (mentis divinitatem) the likeness of 
God in the soul." 

The Gallic confession, attributed to Calvin, 1560. 

"We believe man, who was created pure and upright and in the likeness 
of God's image, by his own crime, to have apostatized from the grace 
which he had received, and thus to have alienated himself from God, the 
fountain of all righteousness and every good thing ; so that his nature is 
altogether corrupt, and he, blinded, in understanding and depraved in 
heart, has lost every feature of that (original) excellence, without the 
least exception. For, although he has some power of choice between 
good and evil, yet we affirm whatever light is in him immediately to 
become darkness when he engages in seeking after God; so that, by 
his own understanding and reason, he can by no means come to him. 
Yea, although he is endowed with a will, by which he is moved in one 
direction or another, yet, as it is entirely under bondage to sin, he has 
absolutely no liberty for the pursuit of that which is good, unless, by 
grace, he receive it from the gift of God. 

"We believe the whole of Adam's posterity to be infected with this 
contagion, which we call original sin; — that is, (vitium,) a vice flowing 
from propagation, and not arising from imitation merely, as the Pela- 
gians suppose, — all the errors of whom we detest. Nor do we think it 
necessary to inquire how it is possible for this sin to be propagated from 
one to another. It is enough that those endowments which God bestowed 
upon Adam were given, not to him alone, but to all his posterity ; and, 
hence, that we, in his person, were spoiled of all those gifts, and fell 
under all this misery and curse. 

"We believe this vice to be (vere peccatum) truly sin, which renders 
each and every one of the human race, unborn infants not excepted, 
subject, at the bar of God, to eternal death. We further assert this vice 



Historical Sketch. 31 

to be, even after baptism, truly sin, (quod attinet ad culpam,) which 
constitutes a crime, although they who are sons of God are not, therefore, 
condemned ; and that, because, out of his gratuitous goodness and mercy, 
God does not impute it to them. We further declare this depravity 
always to bring forth some fruits of wickedness and rebellion; so that 
even they who excel in holiness, although they resist its power, yet are 
defiled with many shortcomings and sins, as long as they remain in this 
world." 

The First Scotch confession, 1560. 

" We confess and acknowledge this our God to have created man, to 
wit, our first father Adam, to his own image and similitude ; to whom he 
gave wisdom, lordship, justice, free wilt, and clear knowledge of himself; 
so that, in the whole nature of man, there could be noted no imperfec- 
tion ; from which honour and perfection, man and woman did both fall. 
The woman being deceived by the serpent, and man obeying the voice 
of the woman ; both conspiring against the sovereign majesty of God, 
who, in express words, had before threatened death, if they presumed to 
eat of the forbidden tree. 

" By which transgression, — commonly called original sin, — was the 
image of God utterly defaced in man, and he and his posterity of nature 
became enemies to God, slaves to Satan, and servants to sin ; insomuch 
that death everlasting hath had, and shall have, power and dominion 
over all that have not been, are not, or shall not be regenerated from 
above : which regeneration is wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost, 
working, in the hearts of the elect of God, an assured faith in the pro- 
mise of God revealed to us in his word ; by which faith we apprehend 
Christ Jesus, with the graces and benefits promised in him."* 
Articles of the church of England, 1562. 

"Art. IX. Of original or birth sin. — Original sin standeth not in the follow- 
ing of Adam, as the Pelagians do vainly talk, but is the fault and corrup- 
tion of the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the 
offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteous- 
ness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth 
always contrary to the Spirit, and, therefore, in every person born into 
this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection 
of nature doth remain, — yea, in them that are regenerated, — whereby the 
lust of the flesh, called, in Greek, (j>p6v7j/ia aapKog, — which some do expound, 
the wisdom, some the sensuality, some the affections, some the desire of 
the flesh, — is not subject to the law of God. And although there is no 
condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the apostle 
doth confess that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin." 
The Belgic confession, 1562. 

" We believe God to have made man of the dust of the ground, after 

* Confessions of public authority in the church of Scotland, Glasgow, 1771, p. 28. 



32 Introduction. 

his image, that is, good, righteous and holy; who was able, (proprio ar- 
bitrio) of himself, to regulate his own will, and conform it to the will 
of God. But, when he was in honour, he knew it not, and did not recog- 
nise his own good; but, (seipsum sciens et volens,) following his own 
mind and will, he enslaved himself to sin, and, by consequence, to 
death and the curse; whilst, giving heed to the words and deceptions 
of the devil, he transgressed the law of life which he received from the 
Lord, and immediately apostatized and alienated himself from God, his 
true life, — his nature being altogether vitiated and corrupted by sin. 
Thus it came to pass that he has rendered himself obnoxious to death, 
corporeal and spiritual. Therefore, having become evil and perverse, 
and corrupt in all his ways and plans, he lost all those excellent gifts 
with which God had adorned him ; so that there is nothing of them left, 
unless it be the feeblest ray and most slender traces, which, however, 
are sufficient to render men inexcusable, because whatever of light is 
in us, is turned into thick darkness, as also the Scripture teaches, saying, 
' The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it 
not.' For, there, John evidently calls men, darkness. Therefore, what- 
ever opinions are held respecting the freedom of man's will, we de- 
servedly reject, since he is the servant of sin, and man can, of himself, 
do nothing unless it is given him from heaven. Who then will dare to 
boast himself to be able to do whatever he chooses, when Christ himself 
has said, ' No one can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, 
draw him'? Who will hold up his own will, when he hears that all 
the affections of the flesh are enmity against God ? Who will glory in 
his own understanding, who knows the natural man to be incapable of 
knowing the things of the Spirit? In short, who will bring forward 
even any of his own thoughts, that understands that we are not fit, as of 
ourselves, to think any thing, but all our sufficiency is of God ? What 
the apostle says, must therefore remain sure and immovable : — ' It is 
God who worketh in us, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure/ 
For no mind, no will, acquiesces in the will of God, upon which Christ 
himself has not first operated ; which he also declares, saying, ' Without 
me ye can do nothing.' 

"We believe the sin which is called, original, to have been scattered 
and diffused, by the disobedience of Adam, through the entire human 
species. This original sin is a corruption of the whole nature, and a 
hereditary vice, by which even infants are defiled in the womb ; and 
which, as some poisonous root, generates every sort of sin in man ; and it 
is so vile and detestable before God, that it suffices for the condemnation 
of the whole race. Nor are we to suppose that it is altogether removed, 
or pulled up by the root, by baptism ; since from it, as from a corrupt 
spring, unceasing waves and streams arise and continually flow abroad. 
Yet to the sons of God, it may not be charged nor imputed to condem- 
nation ; but, of the mere grace and mercy of God, it is remitted to them ; 



Historical Sketch. 33 

not that, relying upon this remission, they may slumber ; but that, by 
the sense of this corruption, pardon may excite continual groans in 
believers, and that thereby they may the more ardently desire to be 
freed from this body of death. Hence, we condemn the error of the 
Pelagians, who assert this sin of origin to be nothing else than the effect 
of imitation." 

The latter Helvetic confession, 1565. 

"Man was made in the beginning in the image of God, in righteousness 
and true holiness, good and upright; but by the subtlety of the serpent, 
and his own crime, falling from goodness and rectitude, he became ob- 
noxious to sin, death and various calamities. And such as he became 
by the fall, such are they who are begotten of him, obnoxious to sin, 
death and various calamities. JSow, sin we understand to be that native 
corruption of man, from those our first parents, derived or propagated in 
us all ; by which, immersed in depraved lusts, and averse from good, but 
propense to all evil, full of all unrighteousness, unbelief, contempt and 
hatred of God, we are not able, of ourselves, to do, or even to think, any 
thing good. Nay, rather, in thoughts, words and deeds, depraved and 
at variance with the law of God, we continually bring forth corrupt fruit, 
appropriate to the evil tree. By reason w T hereof, through our desert ex- 
posed to the wrath of God, we are subjected to just punishment; so that 
we had all been cast off from God, had not Christ the Redeemer brought 
us back. 

" By death, therefore, we do not understand merely bodily death, which 
on account of sin is once to be endured by us all, but also the eternal punish- 
ment which is due to our sins and corruption. For the apostle says, Eph. 
ii., ' We were dead in trespasses and sins, and were by nature the chil- 
dren of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, when we 
were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ.' So Rom. v. 
12. As bjr one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, and so 
death passed to all men, (in quo omnes peccaverunt, ) in whom all sinned. 
. . . We, moreover, condemn Florinus and Blastus against whom also 
Irenreus wrote; and all who make God the author of sin. For it 
is expressly written, Psalm v., 'Thou art not a God that hath plea- 
sure in wickedness. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt 
destroy them that speak leasing.' And again, John viii., 'When the devil 
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own ; for he is a liar, and the father 
of it.' But in us ourselves there is enough of vice and corruption, so that 
it is not necessary that God should infuse into us any new or greater de- 
pravity. Therefore, when God is said in the Scriptures to harden, to 
blind, and to deliver over to a reprobate mind, it is to be understood that 
God does it in just retribution as a righteous judge and avenger. Fur- 
thermore, as often as God, in the Scriptures, is said and appears to do 
any evil, it is not therefore said, because man is not the doer of the evil, 

3 



34 Introduction. 

but because, in his righteous judgment, God, who is able if he willed to 
prevent it, permits it to be done, and does not prevent it ; either because 
by the wickedness of man he accomplishes good, as by the sins of Jo- 
seph's brethren ; or because he may restrain the sins, so that they shall 
not break out and go beyond what is fitting. St. Augustine says in his 
Enchiridion, 'In a wonderful and ineffable manner, that is not done con- 
trary to his will, which nevertheless is contrary to his will. For it could 
not take place, did not he permit it to be done. Nor yet does he permit 
it unwillingly, but willing to do so. Nor would a good God permit evil 
to occur, unless the omnipotent One were able out of evil to accomplish 
good/ Thus speaks Augustine. The other questions, — Whether God 
willed the fall of Adam, or impelled him to his fall? or, Why he did not 
prevent the fall? and such questions, we leave to the inquisitive, knowing 
that the Lord prohibited man to eat of the forbidden fruit, and punished 
the transgression ; and yet what was done was not evil with respect to the 
providence, will and power of God ; but only with respect to our will and 
that of Satan, repugnant to the will of God." 

$ 8. Continental Divines of the Reformed church. 

Those above, are the most important of the earlier Eeformed confes- 
sions ; with which the others, and the Lutheran formularies and writers, 
are in perfect harmony. But our space will not permit their insertion. 

The fact cannot have failed to strike the reader that in no one of these 
confessions of the Eeformed church is the line of demarcation drawn 
between original sin imputed and original sin inherent. The same man- 
ner of presentation is characteristic of the writings of Calvin, the master 
spirit of the Reformed church, whose influence was paramount from an 
early period of his ministry, and entered decisively into the construction 
of all the principal Eeformed confessions. So strongly are the writings 
of Calvin characterized by the inseparable combination of the two ele- 
ments of original sin, — so invariably does he recognise the depravity of 
man, as the terminus ad quern, — the immediate effect of the first act of 
transgression, in the entire nature of man, — that occasion has thence been 
taken to deny that the Genevan reformer held the doctrine of the impu- 
tation to us of Adam's sin. But the candid reader, who will carefully 
examine the writings of the illustrious reformer, will find that he dis- 
tinctly and habitually recognises and earnestly asserts it ; — but that 
in speaking of it he is ever actuated by an anxiety to guard against 
the supposition, that we are condemned by an arbitrary putation of a 
merely extraneous act, personal to Adam; instead of justly suffering for 
the intrinsic guilt and depravity, which, with our being, flow to us from 
him, — the idea that the first transgression may justly be designated, 
after the manner of the Pelagians, (alienum peccatum) a foreign sin. 
Hence the way in which he associates the two elements in original 



Historical Sketch. 35 

sin, in his Institutes, and elsewhere. Thus he speaks of "that 
hereditary corruption, which the fathers called original sin ; meaning by- 
sin the depravation of a nature previously good and pure; on which 
subject they had much contention, nothing being farther from carnal 
apprehension than that all should be made guilty by the crime of one, 
and so the sin be made common ; which seems to have been the reason 
why the most ancient doctors of the church do but glance at this point, 
or at least explained it with less perspicuity than it required. Yet this 
timidity could not prevent Pelagius arising; who profanely pretended 
that the sin -of Adam only ruined himself, and did not injure his de- 
scendants. By concealing the disease with this delusion, Satan sought to 
render it incurable. But when it was evinced by the plain testimony of 
the scripture, that sin was communicated from the first man to all his 
posterity, he sophistically urged that it was communicated by imitation, 
not by propagation. Therefore good men, and beyond all others Augus- 
tine, have laboured to demonstrate that we are not corrupted by any 
adventitious means ; but that we derive an innate depravity from our 
very birth. "* Here, Calvin, in the first part of the passage, has in view 
the act of apostasy — "the depravation of a nature previously good," — 
"the crime of one," which is a "sin common" to all. But as he pro- 
ceeds he glides into the other aspect of the subject; and ends with native 
depravity. The same thing occurs in the next section, where he very 
clearly indicates the subject of which he speaks, as being the act of 
Adam's apostasy. This appears from the contrast which he draws be- 
tween it and the righteousness by which we are justified. And yet much 
of what he says on the subject is only predicable of inherent depravity. 
In fact, the same remark applies to the entire argument contained in the 
chapter. A few additional citations will set the doctrine of Calvin in a 
clear light. 

"In the first epistle to the Corinthians, with a view to confirm the 
pious in a confidence of the resurrection, he [Paul] shows that the life 
which had been lost in Adam was recovered in Christ. He who pro- 
nounces that we are all dead in Adam, does also, at the same time, 
declare that we are implicated in the crime of the sin, (labe peccati;) for 
no condemnation could reach those who were not attainted with any 
crime, (nulla iniquitatis culpa attingerentur.) But his meaning cannot be 
better understood than from the relation of the other member of the 
sentence, where he informs us that the hope of life is restored by Christ. 
But that is well known to be accomplished only when Christ, by a 
wonderful communication, transfuses into us the virtue of his righteous- 
ness ; as it is elsewhere said, The Spirit is life, because of righteous- 
ness."! 

" It is of importance to point out, here, two distinctions between Christ 

* Calvin's Institutes, Book II. ch. i. 5. f Ibid. 6. 



36 Introduction. 

and Adam. . . . The first is, that, in Adam's sin we are not condemned 
by a bare imputation, as though the punishment of another's sin were 
exacted of us, but we therefore endure his punishment, because we are 
also guilty of the crime, inasmuch as our nature, vitiated in him, is held 
guilty of iniquity by God. But Christ's righteousness restores to salva- 
tion by another method ; for it is not accepted of God, because it is 
intrinsically in us, but the bounty of the Father makes us possess Christ 
himself, who is bestowed upon us with all his blessings." 

We are aware that these expressions of Calvin have been explained as 
meaning that we therefore endure the punishment of Adam's sin because 
we are guilty of native depravity. This was the subterfuge under which 
Placseus sought to evade the condemnation of his heresy. But the lan- 
guage does not, we think, admit of this interpretation. It seems to be 
unambiguous: — " We therefore endure Adam's punishment (pcenam ejus) 
because we are guilty of the crime, since our nature, vitiated in him, is 
held guilty of iniquity by God." It is the apostasy, the vitiating of nature, 
and not the consequent depravity, which is described; and the whole 
matter of which Calvin speaks is specifically limited to the action of 
Adam's sin. It is, in peccato Adce, that he says we are condemned and 
punished, because, culpa sumus rei. — "Prior est, quod, in peccato Adee, non 
per solam imputationem damnamur, acsi alieni peccati exigeretur a nobis 
poena; sedideo pcenam ejus sustinemus, quia et culpse sumus rei, quatenus 
scilicet natura nostra in ipso vitiata, iniquitatis reatu abstringitur apud 
Deum."* 

On this subject the language of Ursinus is very clear: — " Truly, we all 
justly bear the punishment of Adam's crime, — 1. Because the crime is so 
Adam's as to be ours also. For we all sinned in Adam's sinning, because 
we were all in the loins of Adam. 2. Because we all, with our nature, 
receive the crime of Adam, we approve of it, we imitate it. 'Who can 
bring a clean thing out of an unclean?' 3. Since the whole nature of 
Adam was guilty, and we are propagated from his mass, it is impossible 
that we should not also be .guilty: — 'We are all, by nature, children of 
wrath/ 4. Adam received his gifts from God under this law: — that he 
should impart them to us, if he kept them himself, or destroy them alto- 
gether, if he failed to retain them. Inasmuch, therefore, as he lost them, 
he lost them rot for himself alone, but for all his posterity."! 

"The first sin," says Marck, "considered in its extent, was as noxious 
and evil, as in its nature; for it subjected the whole race of man to guilt J 

* Calvin on Komans v. 17. 

f Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism, Question vii. Edition of 1634, p. 46. 

J In what sense Marck uses the word, reatus, (guilt,) in this place, may be seen not 
only from his definition elsewhere given, but by the language of his next section, where, 
alluding to the doctrine of propagated guilt, here stated, he says, " Neither is Christ, 
therefore, subject to the same guilt, (reatui.)" 



Historical Sketch. 37 

and eternal condemnation from God, and that by the dispensation of 
justice, although the Socinians and Arminians refer it altogether to the 
sovereignty of God. For, as Adam received the image of God, not for 
himself alone, but for his seed, so he sinned, not for Jiimself alone, but 
for us all ; because we all were in him, as the branches in the root, the 
lump in the first fruits, the members in the head ; and, therefore, we may 
invert the axiom of Paul. 'For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also 
holy ; and if the root be holy, so are the branches/ — Rom. xi. 16. Where- 
fore it is said that 'in Adam all die/ — 1 Cor. xv. 22. And especially what 
the apostle has in Rom. v. 12, — 'By one man sin entered the world/ &c, 
— leads directly to the same conclusion. If ey' b be taken in a causative 
sense — ' for that/ — it is not possible that sin and death should pervade the 
world through the sin of one man, if his crime was not, in the same sense, 
common to all; or, it may be rather rendered subjectively for, 'in which, 
(man,)' as it is not uncommon to use etti for ev, as appears in Mark xi. 4 
and Heb. ix. IT ; — which interpretation, the other being rejected, is con- 
stantly adopted by Augustine against the Pelagians, who sought cover in 
the other rendering ; and, since this transgression was not merely personal, 
as were those which followed it, but common, and, in a sense, belonging 
to the nature, it hence appears that the dogma of the Pelagians and 
Remonstrants is to be rejected, — that 'the sin of Adam was so alien to us 
that it could not be called ours / for by God it could not be imputed to 
us justly, unless it was in some manner ours, since 'the soul that sinneth, 
it shall die/ — Ezek. xviii. 4."* 

I 9. Hie Synod of Bort, 1618. 

In the beginning of the Arminian controversy, the Remonstrants so 
veiled their sentiments, on the subject of original sin, under ambiguous 
forms of expression, as to seem in harmony with the Reformed confes- 
sions. In the declaration or confession which they laid before the Synod 
of Dort, they say: — 

" Inasmuch as Adam was (stirps et radix) the germ and root of the 
whole human race, he therefore involved and implicated not himself 
only, but also, together with himself, all his posterity, who (quasi in 
lumbis ipsius conclusi erant) existed as it were in his loins, and were to 
proceed from him by natural generation, in the same death and miseries; 
so that all men, without any distinction, our Lord Jesus Christ only 
excepted, by this one sin of Adam, are deprived of that primitive 
felicity, and destitute of true righteousness, which is necessary to the 
obtaining of eternal salvation, and are therefore born subject to that 
death which we have mentioned, and also to many present miseries. 
And this is commonly called, original sin."f 

* Marckii Medulla, Locus vi. 36. 

f Confes. Remonst. cap. vii. § 4, in Op. Episcopii, Roterodami, 1665, vol. ii. 



38 Introduction. 

On this subject, the Synod says, 

" 1. Man, from the beginning, was created in the image of God. adorned 
in his mind with the true and saving knowledge of his Creator and of 
spiritual things, with righteousness in his will and heart, and purity in 
all his affections, and thus was altogether holy; but, by the instigation of 
the devil and his own free will, revolting from God, he bereaved himself 
of these inestimable gifts, and on the contrary, in their place, contracted 
in himself blindness, horrible darkness, and perversity of judgment, in 
the mind ; malice, rebellion, hardness, in the will and heart ; and, finally, 
impurity in all his affections. 

"2. And such as man was before the fall, such children also he begat; 
namely, being corrupted, corrupt ones, — corruption having been derived 
from Adam to all his posterity, (Christ only excepted,) not by imitation, 
as the Pelagians formerly would have it, but by the propagation of a 
vicious nature, through the just judgment of God. 

"3. Therefore all men are conceived in sin and born the children of 
wrath, indisposed (inepti) to all saving good, propense to evil, dead in 
sins, and the slaves of sin; and, without the grace of the regenerating 
Holy Spirit, they neither are willing nor able to return to God, to correct 
their depraved nature, or to dispose themselves to the correction of it."* 

In respect to the confession of the Eemonstrants, Turrettin remarks 
that "at first they spake ambiguously, so that it was uncertain what posi- 
tion they assumed. But afterward, in their Apology, chapter vii., they 
plainly show themselves to favour the Socinians, retaining, indeed, the 
name of imputation, but taking away the thing itself, whilst they declare 
'the sin of Adam to be imputed by God to his posterity: not as though 
he held them to be really guilty of the same sin and crime with Adam, 
but as he willed them to be born, subject to the same evil to which Adam 
rendered himself obnoxious by sin/ "f 

The following is the language of the Apology here alluded to, which 
was published by the Remonstrants, in reply to a review of their Confession 
by four of the divines of Leyden : — 

"In the fourth section the, censor complains that the Eemonstrants set 
forth their opinion on original sin ambiguously ; for when they say that 
'by this one sin of Adam his posterity are all deprived of that primitive 
felicity and true righteousness,' &c, they do not mean the sin of Adam 
to have been imputed so to his posterity,' as that in Adam (in culpa fue- 
runt) they were parties to the crime, &c. This is rashly asserted. The 
Remonstrants have never said that they did not so mean ; nor are the 
citations from Arminius and Corvinus sufficient to prove it, nor to be 
ascribed to all the Eemonstrants. But neither the Scriptures nor any 
reason requires that they should say this. They confess that the sin of 

* Scott's Hist. Synod of Dork Presb. Board of Pub., p. 292. 
f Turrettini Institutiones Theol., Locus IX. Qu. ix. 3. 



Historical Sketch. 39 

Adam may be said to be imputed by God to his posterity, so far forth as 
God willed the posterity of Adam to be born obnoxious to the same evil 
to which Adam rendered himself liable by sin ; or, in so far as God per- 
mitted, the evil which was inflicted upon Adam, as punishment, should 
flow and pass over to his posterity. But nothing renders it necessary for 
us to say the sin of Adam to be so imputed to his posterity, as if God 
really considered the posterity of Adam guilty with Adam of the same 
sin and crime which Adam committed. Yea, neither the Scriptures nor 
the truth, wisdom nor goodness of God, the nature of sin, nor the prin- 
ciples of justice and equity, permit that they should represent the sin of 
Adam to have been so imputed to his posterity. The Scriptures testify 
God to have threatened the punishment to Adam alone, and to have 
inflicted it upon Adam only. The divine goodness, truth and wisdom, 
do not permit that (alienum peccatum alteri proprie imputet) the sin of 
another should be imputed to one as personally his own, or that that 
should be imputed (ut proprie) as a personal thing, which was not com- 
mitted by one's own will. It is contrary to justice and equity that any 
one should become guilty on account of a sin not his own ; that he should 
be judged truly criminal who, as to his own will, is innocent, or, rather, 
is not criminal. . . . 

"Similar is the next thing which the censor says, 'Nor by the priva- 
tion of true righteousness do they mean any thing to remain in each of 
the children of Adam, before his own personal action, which is truly to 
be called sin.' It is so ; for who of a sound mind will believe that by the 
privation of original righteousness there remains any sin distinct both from 
that privation, which itself is held to be sin, and from that sin on account 
of which the privation takes place? He is insane who is willing to admit 
such a privation. 'But this/ he says, 'is nothing else than to deny origi- 
nal sin altogether, and only to recognise a punishment of sin, — by which, 
even in his posterity, Adam atones for what he did, — and not to admit 
that in them there is any thing worthy of abhorrence/ Neither is it 
necessary to acknowledge it, nor do the Remonstrants admit it; nor that 
any thing worthy, properly speaking, of the hatred of God, is in Adam's 
posterity from his sin ; nor that, in the posterity of Adam, that which flows 
from Adam, the sinner, is in them properly called the punishment of 
sin," &c* 

§ 10. The Westminster Assembly, 1643-1648. 

The question has been raised, how far the Westminster Assembly based 
the doctrine of original sin upon our natural relation to Adam. And it 
is sometimes asserted that it is left entirely out of the account, and the 
whole matter referred to a positive constitution between God and Adam, 
without which we would not have been responsible for his sin, and by 

* Apologia pro Conf. Rein. g§ 84, 85; in Op. Episc, vol. ii. 



40 Introduction. 

which he was made to be our head. In the early English editions of the 
Westminster Confession, — those of 1658 and after, — the Scripture proofs 
were printed in full ; and the particular words which were relied upon 
for the doctrine in question in each place, were put in Italics. So ar- 
ranged, Chapter vi. \ 3, will illustrate the manner in which this subject 
was viewed by the Assembly. 

"They [our first parents] being the root of all mankind, the guilt of 
this sin was imputed, (/) and the same death in sin and corrupted nature, 
conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary gene- 
ration." 

" (/) Genesis i. verse 27. So God created Man in his own image, in 
the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. 
Verse 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and 
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion 
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every 
living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen. ii. verse 16. And the 
Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou 
mayest freely eat. Verse 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou 
shalt surely die. Acts xvii. 26. And hath made of one blood all nations of men, 
for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times 
before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. Eomans v. verse 
12. Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and 
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Verse 15. But not as the 
offence, so also is the free gift; for if through the offence of one many be 
dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one 
man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Verse 16. And not as it 
was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemna- 
tion, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. Verse 17. 
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which re- 
ceive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in 
life by one, Jesus Christ. Verse 18. Therefore as by the offence of one judg- 
ment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of 
one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. Verse 19. 
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience 
of one shall many be made righteous. 1 Cor. xv. verse 21. For since by 
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. Verse 22. 
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Verse 
45. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last 
Adam was made a quickening spirit. Verse 49. And as we have borne 
the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." 

Here, the reason formally given for the imputation of Adam's sin to 
his posterity, is, the fact that he was "the root of mankind." Of this 
statement the Italics in the proof texts constitute a most significant ex- 



Historical Sketch. 41 

position. They identify and bring into one view, in the narrative of the 
creation, the generic title, "man," the generative relations, "male and fe- 
male," and the plurality of the race, "them." And then^ after the blessing 
of fruitfulness and consequent dominion over the whole earth, and the 
precept which was the test of obedience, all is bound firmly together and 
laid upon the race, by the declaration that all are "one blood;" constituting 
the basis upon which is immediately founded the charge that in Adam 
"all have sinned." 

Identical with this is the doctrine of the Catechisms. See the Larger 
Catechism, Qu. 22, 25, 26 ; Shorter, Qu. 16-19. 

In addition to the Confession and Catechisms, the Assembly put forth 
an epitome, bearing the title, — "A Brief Sum of Christian Doctrine, con- 
tained in Holy Scripture, and holden forth in the Confession of Faith 
and Catechisms. Agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at West- 
minster, and received by the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland. 
With the Practical Use thereof."* In this formula, the doctrine of ori- 
ginal sin is stated in these terms: — 

Head I. \ 2. "God in six days made all things of nothing, very good in 
their own kind, in special he made all the angels holy: and made our 
first parents Adam and Eve, the root of mankind, both upright and able 
to keep the law written in their heart: which law they were naturally 
bound to obey, under pain of death ; but God was not bound to reward 
their service, till he entered into a covenant or contract with them, and 
their posterity in them, to give them eternal life ujDon condition of perfect 
personal obedience, withal threatening death, in case they should fail. 

"3. Both angels and men were subject to the change of their own free 
will, as experience proved, God having reserved to himself the incommu- 
nicable property of being naturally unchangeable. For many angels of 
their own accord fell by sin from their first estate, and became devils: 
Our first parents being inticed by Satan, one of these devils, speaking in 
a serpent, did break the covenant of works, in eating the forbidden fruit, 
whereby they and their posterity, being in their loins, as branches in the 
root, and comprehended in the same covenant with them, became not 
only liable to eternal death, but also lost all ability of will to please God ; 
yea, did become by nature enemies to God, and to all spiritual good; and 
inclined to evil continually. This is our original sin, the bitter root of 
all our actual transgressions, in thought, word and deed." 

$11. Divines of the Westminster Confession. 
Dr. Thomas Goodwin was one of the ablest members of the West- 
minster Assembly, belonging to the party of the Independents, who 

* Although the Brief Sum is by the Church of Scotland received, with the other for- 
mularies of the Assembly of Divines, among her symbolical books, the fact that the 
work was the production of the Assembly, is not, I believe, usually stated in Scotch edi- 
tions. My copy is the fifth London edition, of 1717. 



42 Iniroduction. 

harmonized, perfectly with the other members on the doctrines of the 
confession. Of his works in folio, the third volume consists of three 
treatises : — 1. Of an Unregenerate Man's Guiltiness before God, in respect 
of Sin and Punishment ; 2. Of Man's Restauration by Grace ; 3. Of 
Christ, the Mediator. In the first of these he enters very fully into the 
subject of original sin. In respect to the mode in which Adam came to 
be our representative, he speaks as follows : — 

" There are three ways by which it may be conceived or understood 
that he was a public person : 

" 1. By the absolute prerogative of God, resolving it wholly into his 
own secret ordination and appointment of him so to be. Thus some. 
But this cuts the knot, indeed, but unties it not : and I dare not wholly 
put it on that account. The covenant with Adam, both for himself and 
us, was the covenant of nature, as I have shown : and it were hard to 
say that, in such a covenant, he should use his prerogative alone ; and, 
in some respects, this was higher (if we suppose it such) than that with 
Christ, with whom he dealt distinctly, fully making known to him all 
things that concerned that covenant, which he also voluntarily undertook 
for to his Father, as in that place cited in Isaiah (Isa. xlix. 1-8) and 
also here appears. 

"2. A second way, therefore, is when it is by a covenant ; and that, so, 
as though God's will to have it so that he should represent us, was the 
main foundation it should be resolved into, yet so as withal, God should 
plainly utter this, and declare it aforehand to him, as he did to Christ, 
in that place of Isaiah, ' I will give thee for a covenant to the Gentiles/ 
&c. Now there is no such record of this, more than what hath been 
mentioned in the former answer, now extant I know of, whereby God 
declared he would constitute him such, or laid it explicitly upon him, 
otherwise than in those particulars which yet I confess by just and like 
reason do infer it ; so as I would not wholly put it upon that account 
neither; for we read not of God's saying this to him in distinct words, 
nor of his accepting or undertaking so to be, namely, a public person, 
that, if he sinned, his posterity should sin in him. Therefore, 

"3. I should think it to be mixed of the two latter: both that God 
made him, or appointed him to be, a public person, as 1 Cor. xv. 45, (see 
my exposition on those words,) yet not so out of mere will, but that it 
also had for its foundation, so natural and so necessary a ground as it was 
rather a natural than a voluntary thing. And necessary it was he should 
be so appointed, if the law of nature were attainted. And to assert this 
I am induced, among other grounds, by that which, in handling the 
state of Adam in innocency, I then pursued. That this covenant was a 
natural covenant, and such as, according to the law of his creation, was 
due and requisite, and founded upon, and consonant to, the principles 
of nature; and therefore I judge this law concerning the propagation of 
man's nature to his posterity to be such, and that God did not put forth 



Historical Sketch. 43 

his prerogative in giving forth this alone ; but that, it being a part of his 
covenant by the law of nature, it was therefore so well known to him, 
by the light and law of nature, that he needed not have it given him by 
word of mouth ; though in those forementioned charters, common to him 
and his posterity, of having dominion over the creatures, and begetting 
in his likeness or kind, it was sufficiently held forth ; and so as that 
threatening was to be understood in the same manner by him, ' That day 
thou eatest, thou shalt die ;' wherein all mankind are not only meant, 
but expressed by the same law that they are in those words, ' Subdue the 
earth/ — Gen. i. 28. ' And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be 
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have 
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over 
every living thing that moveth upon the earth ;' which are spoken to 
Adam immediately, and yet meant of his posterity. And it is certain, 
that, in respect of conveying all that which was good, he was a common 
person, as in that of conveying a lordship over the creatures, a covenant 
of life to them, &c. ; and, by the same reason, he was a common person to 
convey sin too. And, truly, those words, that we are said to be ' children 
of wrath' by nature, I understand not only, though so too, by birth, but 
even to extend to this sense, — by the law of nature. See my expo- 
sition on those words. 

" Now the natural necessity, upon which this designation of him to be 
a public person was made, is this : God had, as author of nature, made 
this the law of nature, — That man should beget in his own image or 
likeness; look [like?] what it should prove to be either through his 
standing or falling, afore he puts this nature out of his hands ; and this 
law is, in their kind, common to beasts. So, then, in this first man, the 
whole nature of man being reposited as a common receptacle or cistern 
of it, from whence it was to flow to others ; therefore, what befalls this 
nature in him by any action of his, that nature is so to be propagated 
from him. God's ordinance, in the law of nature, being — that all should 
be made of ' one blood,' which could not have been said of any other 
man than of him, (no, not of Noah, because of the mixture marriages 
afore with the posterity of Cain.) And thus, also, man's condition dif- 
fered from that of the angels, of whom each stood as single persons by 
themselves, being all and each of them created by God immediately, as 
even Adam, the first man, himself was. But all men universally, by the 
law of nature, were to receive their nature from him in his likeness ; 
that is, if he stood and obeyed, then the image of holiness had been 
conveyed, as it was at first created. If he fell by sin, then, seeing he 
should thereby corrupt that nature, and that that corruption of nature 
was also to be his sin in relation to, and as the consequent of, that act of 
sin that caused it ; therefore, if the law of nature were ever fulfilled so 
as to convey his own image as sinful, (suppose he should sin,) so as it 
should be reckoned sin in his children, as it was in himself, this could 



44 Introduction. 

not take place, but they must be guilty of that act that caused it, so far as 
it cast [caused ?] it, as well as himself. If indeed any way could have been 
supposed how he might have been bereft of that holiness he was created 
in, without a precedaneous act of sinning, as the cause, then indeed we 
might have said that privation of holiness should not have been reckoned 
sin, either to himself nor to his posterity, in that case. This corruption 
of nature, or want of original righteousness, in such case would not have 
been, nor could not have been, accounted a sin, (a punishment it might,) 
but it comes only to be a sin as it referreth to, and is connected with, 
the guilt of an act of sin that caused that corruption of nature. If, 
therefore, that corruption became truly and properly a sin in them as 
well as in him, (and else it hath not the formate of his image,) he must, 
necessarily, be constituted a public person, representing them even in 
respect of that act of sin, which should thus first infect and pollute their 
nature in him ; or else the law of nature will not, in this respect, have 
its due effect. For that which makes it a sin is not the want of it 
simply, but as relating to a forfeiture and losing of it by some act those 
are first guilty of who lose it. Hence, therefore, (I repeat the force of 
my reason again,) if he will convey this image acquired by his sin as sinful, 
there must be a guilt of that act of his sin, which was the cause of it ; 
and therefore he must be a public person in that first act of sin, so as 
without this, as the case stood, the law of nature could not have had its 
course."* 

We might further quote largely from this writer to the same purpose. 
He everywhere insists that the sin of Adam is so ours as to require of us 
contrition for it ; and devotes an entire chapter to urge this duty. 

Whilst the Westminster Assembly was in session, fifty-eight of the most 
eminent pastors of the city of London, all of them Presbyterians, and of 
whom seventeen were members of the Assembly, published a " Testimony 
to the truth of Jesus Christ/' and in opposition to the prevailing errors. 
Dr. William Lyford, who had been called, but prevented by disease from 
attending upon the Assembly, commenced the preparation of a work 
designed as "a discovery of the errors, heresies and blasphemies of these 
times, and the toleration of them, as they are collected and testified against 
by the ministers of London." The increase of his disease put an end to 
this work when but partly completed. On the subject of our relation to 
Adam's sin, this writer says that "No man is cast into hell for Adam's 
sin, himself being innocent ; but in Adam we all sinned. No man dies 
of another's disease ; but, if we are infected with the same, we die of our 
own disease. The prophet Ezekiel says (ch. xviii.) that 'the just child 
of a wicked father shall live : if he seeth all that his father hath done, and 
considereth, and doth not the like, he shall surely live,' — ver. 14-17 ; but 
if the son commit the like sins as the father did, then ' they shall bear 

* Goodwin's Works, folio, London, 1692, vol. iii. p. 14. 



Historical Sketch. 45 

their own iniquity/ — Ver. 13. This is our case in relation to Adam ; we 
are all wicked sons of a wicked father. There is none of us that doeth 
good ; no, not one. All Adam's sons are wrapped in his sin ; all are under 
that common guilt. Bring forth a clean son out of Adam's loins, and he 
shall live. There is duplex reatus, proprius, et communis. I am guilty of 
some sms, which another is not ; and another is guilty of sins, which I am 
not: we have our proper faults. But this one offence, of which Paul 
speaks, (Rom. v. 12, 16, 19,) involves us all in one common guilt. By it, 
all of us, being in Adam's loins, are alike guilty; and, therefore, even by 
that rule, — 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die,' — we must all die, because 
we all have sinned. ' Sicut omnium hominum natura, ita etiam omnium 
voluntas, originaliter fuit in Adamo.' "* 

We shall hereafter see the testimony of Rutherford, a member of the 
Assembly, of Poole, of Owen, and of Dickinson ; in harmony with Pa- 
rseus, Witsius, De Moor, and Hoornbeek.f To these we will only here 
add that of Boston. "I shall show how Adam's sin of breaking the 
covenant of works is our sin, — our breaking of it as well as his. It is really 
ours in itself. It is not ours in its effects only, as a father's sin in riotously 
spending his estate reaches his whole family, reducing them to poverty and 
want. Though the effects of that riotous spending — the poverty, misery and 
want — are theirs, yet the riotous spending is the father's only. But so it is 
not in this case. It is true, the effects of it — the sinful and penal evils fol- 
lowing this sin — are ours ; we see them, we feel them, and the most stupid 
groan under them. But the sin itself is ours, too ; and, — (1.) The guilt of it 
is ours. . . . (2.) The fault is ours, — Rom. v. 12: — 'By one man sin entered 
the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all 
have sinned ;' namely, in Adam. The fault lies in its contrariety to the 
holy commandment: this made it a faulty deed, a criminal action, a sin 
against God ; and, as such, it is ours. We in Adam transgressed the law, 
— broke through the hedge, — and so broke the covenant. If the fault 
were not ours, a holy God would never punish us for it ; but certain it is 
that he does punish the children of Adam for it. Rom. v. 14: — 'Death 
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after 
the similitude of Adam's transgression.' . . . (3.) The stain and blot of it is 
ours. The whole nature of man was tainted with it, — vitiated and black- 
ened; and, through defilement and loathsomeness thereby, rendered 
incapable of, and quite unfit for, communion with God. (Gen. iii. 24.) 
This sin denied the whole mass of man's nature, from our father Adam 
going through all his posterity, like leaven through the whole lump. 



* The Instructed Christian ; or, The Plain Man's Senses Exercised to Discern both 
Good and Evil. By William Lyford, B.D., late minister of the gospel at Sherbourn, in 
the west of England. [Republished : Philadelphia, 1847, p. 243. 

f See below, pp. 443, 468, 474, 482, 505, 506, 507. 



46 Introduction. 

1 Cor. xv. 22: — 'In Adam all die;' their souls die spiritually: his whole 
race become as dead corpses/'* 

§ 12. The Placeman Doctrine. 

The doctrine which is known under the designation of mediate impu- 
tation, originated with Joshua de la Place, more commonly called, PlacEeus, 
— a professor in the French Keformed seminary of theology at Saumur. 
Placseus at first taught that original sin consists solely in the native 
depravity which we derive from Adam. This opinion was condemned 
by the National Synod of the French Eeformed church, in 1645. "Pla- 
cseus, however, contended that the decree of the Synod did not have 
reference to him ; and, among other reasons for this, especially, that he 
did not deny absolutely the imputation of Adam's sin, but only a certain 
mode of it ; — he denied immediate and recognised mediate imputation ; 
that, native corruption intervening, we are subjected to all the punish- 
ments of sin, which Adam deserved by transgression, and by contracting 
habitual corruption through the first actual sin. He held original corrup- 
tion to be inherent in us, through the ordinary generation of our nature 
from Adam, according to the law of nature, by which like begets like ; 
whence, from parents corrupt, and destitute of original righteousness and 
holiness, corrupt children must be born. ' This being agreed,' says Pla- 
cseus, 'imputation is to be distinguished into immediate or antecedent, 
and mediate or consequent. The one takes place immediately ; that is, 
corruption of nature not intervening; — the other, mediately; that is, cor- 
ruption intervening. The one, in the order of nature, precedes the cor- 
ruption ; the other follows it. The former is regarded as the cause of the 
corruption; the latter, its effect. The former Placseus rejects; the other 
he admits.' "f 

His doctrine was promulgated by Placseus whilst the Westminster 
Assembly was in actual session. In fact, it was not until it had been 
dissolved six years, that, in 1655, he published the treatise in which 
he retreats behind the figment of mediate imputation. It is not impro- 
bable that the discussion at the time going on in France induced the As- 
sembly to give a more precise enunciation of the doctrine of original sin 
imputed, than is to be found in any other Protestant confession. 

It was in reference to the errors of Placseus, and those of Amyraut and 
Cappel, professors in the same institution, at Saumur, that the Formula 
Consensus Helvetica was drawn up and published. In this testimony the 
Swiss theologians repudiate the Placsean doctrine in the following terms. 

"As God made the covenant of works with Adam, not only for himself, 
but, in him as the head and root, with the whole human race, about to 
descend from him by virtue of the blessing upon his nature ; and to in- 

* Boston on the Covenant of Works. Head iii. 2. 

| De Moorus, Com. in J. Marck. Lugd. Batav. 1765. Cap. xv. § 32. Pars iii. p. 263. 



Historical Sketch. 47 

herit tiie same rectitude had he persisted in it ; so Adam, in his grievous 
fall, sinned not only for himself, but also for the whole human race which 
should be born of blood and the will of the flesh, and forfeited the gifts 
promised in the covenant. We therefore hold the sin of Adam to be 
imputed to all his posterity by the secret and just judgment of God. For 
the apostle testifies that 'in Adam all have sinned;' that 'by the dis- 
obedience of one many were made sinners;' and, that 'in him all die.' 
— Eom. v. 12, 19 ; 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22. Nor indeed does any mode appear 
in which hereditary corruption, as well as spiritual death, could seize upon 
the whole human race, by the just judgment of God, unless some crime 
of the same human race had preceded, inducing the guilt of that death ; 
since God, the just judge of all the earth, will punish none (nisi sontem) 
except the criminal. 

" After sin, therefore, a man by nature, and hence from his origin, is 
subject to the wrath and curse- of God upon a double charge, before he 
has in his own person committed any actual sin ; first, on account of the 
(TrapaTTTUfia) transgression and disobedience which he committed in the 
loins of Adam ; and then for the consequent hereditary depravity, infused 
in his very conception, by which his whole nature is depraved, and spi- 
ritually dead ; thus, therefore, as is truly asserted, original sin is twofold; 
to wit, imputed, and hereditary inherent." 

$ 13. The System of Edwards. 

In the following pages we shall have occasion to notice particularly 
several elements of the system of Edwards. Fundamental to the whole, 
were his doctrines respecting second causes and identity. On the former 
subject, denying the creatures to have in them any other causative force 
than the immediate power of God, or any other kind of existence than 
such as is consistent with continual evanition and new creation out of 
nothing, — he was shut up to his doctrine of identity, as the necessary 
result; to wit, that there is really no true identity, in any case, between 
things which exist in different time and place, — the moon or the person 
that now is, with that which was a moment since ; — that the only identity 
possible is that which arises from the mere arbitrary will of God, deter- 
mining that such and such things shall be held to be one. 

The doctrine of imputation held by Edwards is logically irreconcilable 
with this theory of identity. If the only oneness that is possible is such 
as results from the arbitrary sovereignty of God " making truth" out of an 
untruth, and if by that power we are "constituted" truly one with Adam, 
then manifestly we are as really and personally the parties that plucked 
and ate, as were they who after the transgression heard the voice of God, 
and fled from his presence. But the moral nature of Edwards, true to 
itself, although betrayed by his philosophy, revolted from this conclusion. 
Having assumed the very position of Abelard, he attempts to fortify it 
by recourse to the aid of Placseus. — By an "arbitrary constitution" God 



48 Introduction. 

has made us one with Adam the sinner. Hence his sin is truly and per- 
sonally ours, and justly chargeable to us ; — especially, since we are guilty 
of endorsing the deed by the actings of our own depravity. But why the 
"especially"? If I did the deed, no after fact can make it mine any 
more or less than it is already. 

Two other doctrines occupied conspicuous places in the theology of 
Edwards. The first is, that all holiness or virtue consists in disinterested 
benevolence; or, as expressed by Edwards, in "love to being as such;" 
and all sin, in selfishness. The second grows out of this, and is the opti- 
mistic theory. If holiness consists in disinterested benevolence, then 
Grod, as a holy being, was bound, when he created the universe, to bring 
into existence the best possible system, — that which will secure the great- 
est happiness to the greatest number. 

These were the principles which — engrafted by Edwards into the 
theology of the pilgrims — at once developed the system which, in its 
various phases, was propagated by Hopkins, Smalley, the younger Ed- 
wards, Emmons, and their associates. The logical process was brief and 
simple, and the conclusions inevitable : — If the creatures be no causes, — 
if Grod is the immediate and only cause, he is the sole cause of sin, both 
in Adam and us. If there be no powers in man's nature, — if the phe- 
nomena of his existence and actions are the immediate effects of the 
power of Grod,— there can be no native tendencies or dispositions, of which 
to predicate holiness or sin ; these can consist in nothing but acts. If 
Adam's nature is not a cause of his posterity, it cannot be the cause of 
their depravity : God, the only cause, produces it in them. If there is 
no real identity possible in things which exist in different time and place, 
— if we are one with Adam only by " constitution" and legal intend- 
ment, — then his sin is, in no sense, really ours ; and justice cannot exact 
its penalty of us. Grod may, in sovereignty, act toward us as he would 
toward sinners ; but the inflictions with which we are visited, in conse- 
quence of Adam's sin, are not of a punitive character. Again : for the 
same reason, Christ could not so unite himself with our race, as to be 
held really accountable for our sins, or truly responsible to the penalty. 
Nor, on the other hand, can we be so united to him as to acquire any 
truly proprietary title in his righteousness. The consequence is, that 
Christ's atonement is denied any strictly vicarious character ; — it was a 
governmental display, not a satisfaction ; it was made for sins in general, 
and not specifically for the sins of his people ; and his work was not 
determinate of the redemption of any one, but only opened the way for 
the salvation of those who shall believe. Such were the positions of 
the earlier disciples of Edwards. They rejected, at once, his untenable 
appeal — untenable on his principles — to the distinction between a posi- 
tive and a privative cause, to account for Grod's agency in the production 
of sin, and did not hesitate, directly, and in terms, to attribute all sinful 



Historical Sketch. 49 

actions to the immediate efficient agency of God. But, falling back upon 
the optimistic principle, they held that since God was bound to produce 
the best possible system, and is a most powerful and excellent being, we 
are shut up to the conclusion that the present system is the best; and, sin 
being found in this system, it is inferred that sin is an incident of the 
best system, and necessary to it. Sin, therefore, thus viewed, upon the 
whole, is not an evil, but a good ; and hence it is consistent with God's 
character to produce it. It is only an evil, in that the sinner is not 
actuated by any such apprehension as this, but by selfish and malevolent 
feelings, Eetaining the old forms of speech, these writers utterly 
rejected the old doctrines of original sin and justification. 

So stood the " orthodox" theology of New England at the rise of the 
school of New Haven. And it is a significant fact, that the first public 
announcement of the inauguration of a new school of theology, by the 
professors in that institution, addressed a challenge to the optimists of 
the prevailing school to justify themselves in assuming that God could 
prevent all sin in a moral system.* Thus did the revolting fatalism 
which was involved in Edwards' theory of causation induce a recoil to 
the opposite extreme, in the assertion of Pelagian free will. The 
divines of Xew Haven found, in the very heart of Edwards' system, 
some of the fundamental and most fruitful features of the doctrine of 
Pelagius : — that Adam was not the cause of his posterity ; — that, of con- 
sequence, they were not really, in him, in the covenant ; — that his sin is 
not theirs, nor its punishment visited on them ; — that depravity is not 
derived from Adam to his posterity : — and that sin consists in exercise 
or action. Accepting these as unquestionable principles, and recoiling, 
with just abhorrence, from the idea that God is the author of men's sins, 
they adopted the other alternative deducible from the premises, and 
concluded that men are created without moral character, and that their 
depravity is the result of example and circumstances. Boldly repu- 
diating the system of constituted relations and fictitious intendments, 
by which the Hopkinsians had maintained a semblance of orthodoxy, 
they utterly denied any federal union between us and Adam, or any 
vicarious relation of Christ to his people. Every man comes into the 
world in the same moral and legal attitude as did Adam. Each one sins 
and falls by his own free will. Christ died, not as a legal substitute for 
us, — a vicarious satisfaction for our sins, — but as an exhibition of the 
love of God to sinners, and a display of the evil of sin ; so that God 
may, consistently with the welfare of the universe, forgive sin. The 
sinner is pardoned, not justified ; — sin is forgiven, not taken away ; — and 
justice is waived, not satisfied. Again, supposing man's free will compe- 
tent to sin in spite of God, it follows that the same power can cease to 

* Taylor's Concio ad Clerum, 1828, p. 29. 
4 



50 Introduction. 

sin, independent of the Spirit of God. Regeneration is therefore the 
effect of moral suasion calling into exercise the unaided powers of man's 
own will. 

There are probably few who would now be willing to adopt, in its abstract 
form, the theory of identity which is fundamental to the system of 
Edwards. But by many it is accepted in its application to the doctrine 
of original sin, — the very case for which it was invented. By them it is 
maintained that we are not, in any real sense, one with Adam ; but, by 
a positive constitution, God has so ordered it that we are regarded and 
treated as one.* And yet, with all, we are no more intrinsically one with 
him, nor chargeable with his crime, than we were before. We are only 
held liable to undergo punishment on account of it. That punishment 
consists in the privation of original righteousness, and the consequent 
depravation of the soul. How much more this view harmonizes with 
that of Abelard and the schoolmen than with the Reformed confessions 
a glance will demonstrate. How foreign to the latter, is manifest. In 
those confessions, from the first to the last, we search in vain for a trace 
of the positive constitution here imagined, or a hint that the depravity 
of the race came upon it as the punishment of a foreign sin. On the 
contrary, they are unanimous in the testimony that not Adam but man 
sinned in the act of disobedience, and, by the effects of the sin, was 
depraved ; — that the race, generically, apostatized from holiness, and 
embraced depravity, in the person of Adam. In particular, the West- 
minster Confession, written when the Placsean controversy induced 
special care on these very points, knows nothing of the constructive 
system ; but bases all its positions on our seminal inbeing in Adam ; and, 
discriminating carefully between the criminal and the penal elements 
of Adam's sin, includes in the former the want of original righteousness 
and the corruption of nature ; and charges the whole immediately upon 
us as elements of the sinfulness of that estate into which we fell by 
sinning in Adam ; whilst all this is excluded from any place in the 
penal element, — the miseries incurred. 

We venerate the memory of Edwards ; and esteem and love many of 
the disciples of his theology. But the history of a century confirms the 
conviction resulting from a 'priori considerations, that the principles of 
his system are irreconcilably hostile to the doctrines of grace which he 
loved ; and must operate, as heretofore, so always, to corrupt and destroy 
them. 

* " What exists at this moment ... is a new effect, and, simply and absolutely con- 
sidered, not the same with any past effect. . . . And there is no identity or oneness, in 
the case, but what depends on the arbitrary constitution of the Creator; who, by his 
wise sovereign establishment, so unites these successive new effects that he treats them 
as one, by communicating to them like properties, relations and circumstances; and so 
leads us to regard and treat them as one." — Edwards on Original Sin, Part iv. ch. 2. 



THE 



ELOHIM REVEALED. 



CHAPTEE I. 

THE TRIUNE CREATOR. 

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 
With this announcement the Spirit of God commences the sacred 
3 i. God the volume. He is about to put upon permanent record 
Triune was the a revelation, intended to answer all those questions 
Creator. which spontaneously spring, in the depths of the 

human soul, concerning our highest and eternal interests, — a 
revelation respecting the nature of God, the cause and the re- 
medy of our ruinous estate, the purpose for which life is given, 
the immortality of man, and the alternative states of eternity, — 
themes which have perplexed and bewildered philosophers and 
sages in every age. The first line of the first page of this blessed 
book announces Him, whose nature and whose works are the 
theme of the whole. It unveils in sudden light a glorious One, 
whose lustre increases through every page; like a morning sun, 
growing continually in radiant majesty, pouring abroad a flood 
of unapproachable glory, alone in a starless firmament. When 
the student of the sacred volume reads, in that first line, the 
sublime announcement, — "In the beginning, God," — he, at one 
bound, ascends a height as far above that lofty Olympus where 
fabled Jove sat enthroned, as the heavens are higher than the 
earth. Thus, taught the alone eternity of God, the Creator, and 
the temporary origin of all things else, visible and invisible, he 
has already gained a sublimity of science, which all the wisdom 

51 



52 The Elohim Revealed, [chap. i. 

and research of classic philosophy never attained. Gazing abroad 
from this mountain pinnacle, — on the one hand is nothing but 
the eternity of God; on the other is the creation, just launching 
forth upon cycles, each one of which is the unfolding of a new 
chapter, in the revelation of the high and lofty One who inhabits 
that eternity. Before we attempt to trace the operations of his 
hand, in the works of creation and the scheme of providence, we 
will briefly and reverently glance at some things, which are made 
known to us in the Scriptures, in respect to the nature and pur- 
poses of the Creator. 

The first point here claiming our notice is, that it is not merely 
Gocl, but the Triune God, who is announced as the maker of all 
things. We do not design to enter at large into the argument, in 
proof of the fact that the name, Elohim, being plural in its form, 
is a distinct intimation of the plurality which subsists in the 
unity of the divine essence. Not only does the name itself — 
commonly, as in this place, used in the plural number, though 
with a verb in the singular — point to that fundamental fact in 
the nature of Him whom the creation was designed to proclaim, 
but, in the 26th verse, we are informed of a conference of the 
Elohim, in which it is said, "Let us make man, in our image, 
after our likeness;" and again, when man had fallen, "the Lord 
God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us" — Gen. iii. 22. 
In the book of Ecclesiastes, the preacher admonishes the young, 
"Kemember now (T^* n3 ) "thy Creators." — Eccl. xii. 1. Says 
Elihu, "None saith, Where is ('fep nhg) God my Makers?"— Job 
xxxv. 10, — thus using the name of God in the singular, whilst 
the appellative, " Makers," is in the plural. The Psalmist writes, 
— "Let Israel rejoice (vkty|) in his Makers," — Ps. cxlix. 2; and 
Isaiah assures his people " (f fety fhyfy Thy Makers are thy 
husbands, the Lord of hosts is (iotf) his name." — Isa. liv. 5. 

Not only does the name of the Creator itself announce the work 
as the production of the Sacred Three, but in the progress of the 
narrative we have distinct intimation of the presence and several 
agency of the Three Persons of the Godhead. The first chapter, 
and down to the fourth verse of the second, is a rapid and com- 
prehensive sketch of the whole work of creation, prefatory to the 



sect, i.] The Triune Creator. 53 

more particular account of the creation of man, which occupies 
the remainder of the second chapter. Throughout the first part 
of the narrative thus divided, the work is, by the name, Elohim, 
referred to God the Father; that name being in the Scriptures 
almost exclusively applied to the First Person, as the represent- 
ative of the Godhead. From the fourth verse of the second 
chapter, the title is changed; and in the particular narrative 
there begun it is Jehovah Elohim — the Lord God — who is re- 
presented as the actor. By this name is designated that glo- 
rious Jehovah Christ, " by whom God made the worlds!' — Heb. 
i. 2. That he was meant by the name, Lord God, is demon- 
strable. On this point we will only pause to cite the testimony 
of the Son of God himself, in the last chapter of the book of 
Revelation, v. 6: — "The Loed God of the holy prophets sent 
his angel to show unto his servants the things which must 
shortly be done." v. 16: — "I Jesus have sent mine angel to 
testify unto you these things in the churches." Jesus, then, is 
the Lord God of the Old Testament writers. Here the reader 
will not fail to recall the account with which John commences 
his Gospel: — "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the 
beginning with God. All things were made by him? — John i. 
1-3. In this connection the fact is very striking, that when, in 
the midst of that portion of the sacred record in which the 
title, Lord God, is constantly used, we come to the interview be- 
tween the tempter and the woman, the style is changed. Satan, 
aiming to seduce the woman to a forgetfulness of the ever-pre- 
sent God, ignores that Lord God who was, alike, the creative 
Mediator to innocent man, as he is the atoning Mediator to 
man fallen. Thus, putting God afar off, he asks, "Hath God 
said?" The woman falls into the snare, and replies, "God 
hath said." But it was not Elohim, God, but the Lord God, 
who alike gave the command and called the pair to account for 
disobedience. (Gen. ii. 16, iii. 9.) 

Nor are we without evidence of the presence and operation 
of the Third Person of the Godhead. Not only is his agency 
announced in the second verse of Moses' narrative, — "the 



54 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. i. 

Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters," — but in the 
account of man's creation the Spirit's action is distinctly marked 
in the statement that God "breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of life." — Gen. ii. 7. With this compare the language of Elihu: 
— "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the 
Almighty hath given me life." — Job xxxiii. 4. Says Job, "By 
his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens ; his hand hath formed 
the crooked serpent." — Job xxvi. 13. And the Psalmist sings, 
"Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou re- 
newest the face of the earth." — Ps. civ. 30. 

The distinctive characteristics of the several persons of the 
Godhead are intimated in their names. The Father, the Son, 
I 2. The Eter- and, the Spirit, — these are the designations habitu- 
nai genera- a Hy employed in the Scriptures to distinguish the 
several subsistences which coexist in the unity of 
the Godhead, in respect to their relation to each other. In 
entering upon the consideration of the distinctions thus implied, 
we are to remember that, whereas it were impious to search 
curiously into the mystery of the divine nature beyond what is 
written, it is no less impious to refuse to hear, or to regard 
with indifference, whatever on these subjects God has made 
known. That the names, Father and Son, indicate relations of 
the First and Second Persons to each other, which are neces- 
sary, essential, and eternal — has been the faith of the Church 
of God in all ages, and is clearly demonstrable from the Scrip- 
tures. Says the Psalmist: — "I will declare the decree: the 
Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I be- 
gotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for 
thine inheritance," &c. — Ps. ii. 7, 8. Here observe: (1) That 
the sonship thus announced is not created by the decree; but 
is expressly asserted to be prior to it, and produced by genera- 
tion. (2.) "This day" does not define a temporal period when 
the generation took place. Had such been the design, an ap- 
preciable date would have been specified, in definite terms. But 
when, without any such limitation, such a phrase is used by 
the eternal God, in an address to a coeternal Person, the trans- 
action is thus referred to his eternity. (3.) The sonship is the 



sect, ii.] The Triune Creator. 55 

declared cause of the decree, and therefore antecedent to it. 
" The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his 
hand." — John iii. 35. (4.) The date of the decree is eternity. 
It constitutes an element in the provisions of the everlasting 
covenant, in the terms and conditions of which, everywhere, as 
well as here, the Son being recognised and dealt with as pos- 
sessing the filial relation, and as, therefore, invested with the 
offices assigned to him in the covenant, the conclusion is inevi- 
table that the sonship is eternal. There is in this Psalm another 
mode of fixing the date of the whole transaction. The heathen 
are represented as raging against the Lord and his anointed. 
"Yet," says God, "have I set ( , i?t3M inaugurated, installed) 
my king upon my holy hill of Zion." The date of this inaugu- 
ration will appear in the next Scripture to which we turn. 

Prov. viii. 22-31: — "The Lord possessed me in the beginning 
of his way, before his works of old. I was set up (TOBJ in- 
§ 3. Proof augurated) from everlasting, from the beginning, or 
from Prov. ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I 
was brought forth; when there were no fountains 
abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, 
before the hills was I brought forth : while as yet he had not 
made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust 
of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; 
when he set a compass upon the face of the depth ; when he es- 
tablished the clouds above ; when he strengthened the fountains 
of the deep; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the 
waters should not pass his commandment; when he appointed 
the foundations of the earth : then was I by him, as one brought 
up with him, and was daily his delight, rejoicing always before 
him; rejoicing- in the habitable part of the earth; and my de- 
lights were with the sons of men." 

That, under the name of Wisdom, this Scripture describes a 
personal subsistence, — the Second Person of the Trinity, — ap- 
pears, from considerations, at some only of which we can at pre- 
sent glance. The whole style of the discourse, and the force of 
the several expressions in it, imply a personal subject; and are 
entirely incompatible with the reference of the language to the 



56 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. i. 

divine attribute of wisdom, or any interpretation which does 
not recognise the speaker as a distinct personality. Thus he 
says, "I Wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge 
of witty inventions. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom : I am 
understanding; I have strength." — v. 12, 14. With what pre- 
tence of propriety can we suppose the attribute of wisdom to 
describe itself, thus, as endowed with counsel, wisdom, under- 
standing, and strength? "I Wisdom have sound wisdom!" 
Still more incongruous are the ideas which by this interpreta- 
tion are brought together in the next clause. "I Wisdom am 
understanding." Here we are introduced to a most extraordi- 
nary and perplexing complication of figures. It is supposed 
that the divine wisdom is figuratively exhibited as a person, 
addressing her admonitions and instruction to the sons of men. 
Then the attribute thus personified employs a figure, by which 
it throws off this personality, and is transformed into a different 
attribute. The wisdom of God, by prosopopoeia, becomes a 
speaker ; and then, by metaphor, is transformed back again into 
an attribute; but in the process loses its identity; and is now 
the divine understanding ! Further, what meaning is supposed 
to couch in the statement respecting the attribute of God's 
wisdom, that by it "kings reign, and princes decree justice, 
princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth"? — v. 
15, 16. We understand the apostle, when he speaks of Christ as 
"the Prince of the kings of the earth," "the King of kings 
and Lord of lords." — Rev. i. 5, xix. 16. But in any other 
sense than this, we are unable to see the propriety of the lan- 
guage here applied as descriptive of Wisdom. In the verses 
that follow, we find Wisdom represented as existing externally 
to the person of the Father; who is designated by the name, 
Lord. v. 22:—" The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his 
way, before his works of old." "The Lord ('Mj?) acquired me." 
The word expresses, — not that which is immanent in one, as is the 
attribute of wisdom in God, — but an acquired possession ; and is 
employed to express the acquisition of children by generation. 
In the case of the first born of men, typical of all the rest, we 
are told that Eve bare (}:p) Cain, "saying, (Wp) I have gotten 



sect, in.] The Triune Creator. 57 

a man from the Lord." — Gen. iv. 1. Evidently, such language 
as is thus used of Wisdom is entirely inappropriate to the attri- 
bute, which is essential in the nature of God. If it should be 
objected, that it is equally inappropriate to the Son, as eternal, 
— this raises a question, which will afterwards be considered, 
v. 23: — "I was set up (inaugurated) from everlasting, from the 
beginning, or ever the earth was." We have seen in the second 
Psalm an announcement of such an inauguration of the Son. 
But how can such phraseology be applied to a divine perfection ? 
Is it not directly opposed to the whole teaching of the Scrip- 
tures, and to all just conceptions of the nature of God, to sup- 
pose any one divine attribute exalted above the rest ? Is wisdom 
preferred to justice, love, mercy, or holiness? v. 30: — "Then 
was I (p'DN iTjfa) at his side, a cherished child, and I was daily his 
delight, (nj/-b:)| naS npflfrD) sporting always before him." "This 
word (i^VK at his side, by him) signally declares the personality 
of Wisdom; for in all the places where it occurs, which are 
sixty-two, there is not one in which it does not designate that 
manner of vicinity which occurs between two distinct things."* 
The force of the word which we render, " a cherished child," 
is illustrated in Num. xi. 12 : — " Have I conceived all this 
people ? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto 
me, Carry them in thy bosom as he, (jQKn) a nursing father, 
beareth the sucking child?" The word which we have ren- 
dered "sporting," does not express mere gladness or joy; 
but such actions as are designed and calculated to express 
and impart enjoyment. Thus, it is used to describe the 
conduct of Samson, when he "made sport" for the Philistines, 
(Judges xvi. 25, 27 ;) and to represent the behaviour of David, 
when he "played" before the ark. (2 Sam. vi. 5, 21.) It is em- 
ployed by Zechariah, when, speaking of Jerusalem, at that time 
desolate, he says, "The streets of the city shall yet be full of 
boys and girls, playing in the streets thereof." — Zech. viii. 5. 
"Sporting always before him," — that is, as does a child in the 
presence of the loved parent, striving to elicit a smile. The 
force of the expression is still further strengthened by what fol- 

* Gejerus in Poole's Synopsis, on the place. 



58 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. i. 

lows. v. 31: — " Sporting in the habitable parts of the earth;" — 
there seeking to give the Father pleasure. Thus speaking, 
he anticipates, as present to his eternal mind, the course of his 
life in the flesh ; which drew forth the Father's repeated testi- 
mony, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," 
— Matt. iii. 17; and respecting which himself declares, "The 
Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things 
that please him." — John viii. 29. 

The Lord Jesus Christ asserts a claim to this name of Wis- 
dom ; and it is attributed to him by the New Testament writers. 
3 4 The Wis- ^ a ^ ^ esus t° the Jews, "Woe unto you! for ye 
dom of God build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your 
is Christ. fathers killed them. Therefore also said the Wis- 

dom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some 
of them they shall slay and persecute." — Luke xi. 49. In 
Matthew we have an account of this same discourse, in which 
the declarations and warnings which are here predicated of the 
Wisdom of God, are ascribed to Jesus himself. "Wherefore, 
behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men." — Matt, xxiii. 
34. Even if it be supposed that, in the former place, by the 
sayings of the Wisdom of God, the Old Testament prophecies 
are meant, yet is it unquestionable that they are the testimonies 
of Jesus by his Spirit. "The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit 
of prophecy." — Eev. xix. 10. And Peter declares that the 
prophets knew not, "what, or what manner of time, the Spirit 
of Christ which was in them did signify." — 1 Pet. i. 11. So 
that, by Wisdom, Christ can here mean no other than himself. 
Again, the Saviour designates himself in a similar way, in Matt. 
xi. 19 : — " Whereunto shall I liken the men of this generation ? 
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He 
hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and 
they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend 
of publicans and sinners. But Wisdom is justified of her chil- 
dren." Hence Paul proclaims "Christ the power of God, and 
the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 24. And again, with a mani- 
fest reference to Him whom we have seen in the second Psalm, 
and in the place now under discussion, to have been installed 



sect, ii.] The Triune Creator. 59 

from everlasting, he says, "We speak the Wisdom of God in 
a mystery, even the hidden Wisdom, which God ordained before 
the world unto our glory; which none of the princes of this 
world knew, for had they known it, they would not have cruci- 
fied the Lord of glory."— 1 Cor. ii. 7, 8. 

Again : the things which, in the book of Proverbs, are spoken 
of Wisdom, all apply with the most perfect propriety to the 
Son of God; and some of them can with no tolerable fitness be 
appropriated in any other way, than to him. Of this, we have 
already had some evidence. For the rest, we can only glance at 
a few points. 

The history and character of Wisdom present a remarkable 
correspondence with those of Christ. Wisdom was in the be- 
ginning; she was from everlasting with God; was present at 
the creation, and was the author of creation. (Prov. viii. 23, 27, 
30, iii. 19; with which compare John i. 1-3, andHeb. i. 2.) By 
her the events of providence are ordered. (Prov. iii. 20, viii. 21 ; 
compare Heb. i. 3, Col. i. 16, 17.) By her kings and princes 
hold their sceptres and power. (Prov. viii. 15, 16; compare Rev. 
xix. 16.) Among her most signal characteristics are tender 
love to men, (Prov. viii. 17, 31, i. 22, 23,) and a high regard to 
the claims of justice against incorrigible sinners. (Prov. i. 28- 
32; compare Luke xiv. 16-24.) She hates "pride, and arro- 
gancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth." And her 
distinguishing attributes are counsel, sound wisdom, under- 
standing, and strength. (Prov. viii. 13, 14; compare Isa. xlv. 
24; 1 Cor. i. 30.) 

Wisdom's attitude towards man is equally descriptive of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. With what freedom and publicity are her 
invitations urged ! (Prov. i. 21, viii. 1-4, ix. 3 ; compare John 
vii. 37, Matt. x. 27.) Her gifts, though free, are to be won 
by earnestness and importunity in the pursuit. (Prov. ii. 3, 4; 
compare Luke xiii. 24, Matt. xi. 12.) Their value is better than 
silver and hid treasures, fine gold and rubies. (Prov. ii. 4, iii. 
14, 15, viii. 10, 18, 19 ; compare Rev. iii. 18.) And, when we 
come to hear what these gifts are, we must recognise them as 
coming from the Son of God, and from no other. She promises 



60 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. i. 

to introduce us to the knowledge of God, (Prov. ii. 5 ; compare 
John xvii. 3, 6, xiv. 9, i. 18,) and to pour out upon us the Spirit 
of God. (Prov. i. 23 ; compare John xvi. 7.) She offers to sin- 
ners, righteousness, — a gift which in all the treasures of God's 
universe is only to be found in Christ. (Prov. viii. 18 ; com- 
pare Jer. xxiii. 6.) She engages to bestow upon her followers 
safety and tranquillity, (Prov. i. 33 ; compare Matt. xi. 28, 29,) 
a guardian care and guidance, (Prov. ii. 7, 8, 11-13,) a crown 
of glory, (Prov. iv. 9 ; compare 2 Tim. iv. 8,) durable riches, 
(Prov. viii. 18 ; compare Matt. vi. 20, Kev. iii. 18,) and life and 
the favour of the Lord. (Prov. iii. 16, 18, viii. 35 ; compare Eev. 
ii. 7, and John vi. 54.) 

The glance thus taken will, we trust, be sufficient to satisfy 
the reader, that Wisdom, who speaks in the book of Proverbs, 
and particularly in the eighth chapter, is a person distinct from 
God the Father, and can be no other than his beloved and eter- 
nal Son. It is he that says, " The Lord acquired me in the 
beginning of his way, before his works of old." "When there 
were no depths, I was brought forth." " Before the mountains 
were settled, before the hills was I brought forth." "When 
he appointed the foundations of the earth, then was I at his 
side, a nourished child." 

In the 30th chapter of Proverbs there is another signal testi- 
mony on the subject of our inquiry : — "I neither learned Wisdom 
2 5. Proverbs nor nave ^ ne knowledge of (D'^np) the Holy Ones. 
xxx. 3, 4, and Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended ? 
Mcah v. 2. Wll0 k atll gathered the winds in his fists ? Who 
hath bound the waters in a garment ? Who hath established 
all the ends of the earth ? What is his name, and what is his 
son's name, if thou canst tell?" — Prov. xxx. 3, 4. These are 
"the words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy : the 
man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal." The name, 
Ithiel, is identical in meaning with Immanuel, the number only 
being changed, — God with me ; and Ucal signifies, the mighty 
One. And judicious interpreters have translated the clause, 
" The man spake concerning God with me, even God with me, 
the mighty One." But, aside from this interpretation, the pass- 



sect, iv.] The Triune Creator. 61 

age lias several things unquestionable and conclusive on the sub- 
ject of which, we treat. 1. His theme, Agur presents as myste- 
rious and unsearchable. This he declares, in the first place, by 
protestations of his own ignorance, and then by the series of 
questions which we have quoted. He says, " Surely I am more 
brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a 
man. I neither learned Wisdom nor have the knowledge of the 
Holy Ones." 2. His theme is the nature of God, of whom he 
speaks in the plural number : — the Holy Ones. 3. There is a 
distinct allusion to the incarnation of the Son of God, in the 
question, " Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended ?" 
With this, compare Eph. iv. 8-10. 4. Having asserted the 
inscrutable nature of God the Creator, in the demand, " What 
is his name ?" he attributes to him a Son, of nature as myste- 
rious and unsearchable : — " What is his Son's name, if thou 
canst tell ?" It is complained that the style of Agur is obscure. 
His subject is profound. But he distinctly presents the points 
here stated, which are conclusive on the subject of the sonship 
of Christ. 

Micah v. 2 constitutes an additional proof of the doctrine 
before us : — " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be 
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he 
come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel ; whose goings 
forth have been from of old, from everlasting." That this text 
has respect to Christ, Matthew ii. 6 renders unquestionable. It 
does not in terms declare his eternal sonship. Yet is the place 
none the less effective to our purpose, since it indicates such a 
characteristic in the nature of the Son of God, as exactly cor- 
responds with the doctrine of his eternal generation, and is 
otherwise inexplicable. Says Micah, " His goings forth have 
been from of old, from everlasting." The word translated 
"goings forth," does not of itself necessarily mean birth or 
generation. But it does unquestionably express action of some 
kind, and cannot be applied to mere purpose or plan of future 
action. In the present case, it defines action which antedates 
the entire work of creation ; it dates "from of old, from everlast- 
ing." It has, therefore, respect to some action, which is appro- 



62 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. i. 

priate to the relations essentially subsisting between the Per- 
sons of the Godhead. Further, the word is applicable to gene- 
ration. This is clearly indicated by the use of the verb, from 
which the noun here used is derived, in other places. Thus, 
Gen. xv. 4 : — " He that shall go forth, out of thine own bowels, 
shall be thine heir." Gen. xxxv. 11 : — " Kings shall go forth 
out of thy loins." 2 Kings xx. 18 : — " Of thy sons which shall 
issue from thee." The plural form of the word, is also observ- 
able: — "His goings forth. 1 ' By this expression, implying a 
continual repetition of the action, is indicated its eternity. An 
act, viewed in the light of human comprehension, is a moment- 
ary and transient thing. In particular, such is the case with 
a going forth, or a birth. Hence, no more appropriate form 
could be used to express such action as, being essential in the 
nature of God, is entirely free from any thing like transition, 
origin, or termination, than that here used, expressive of perpe- 
tual and continuous repetition of the same act. 

We come next to the evidence unfolded in the New Testa- 
ment, in respect to which any thing more than a very cursory 
a 6 Proofs de gl ance ^ s impossible. The careful reader of the 
Hved from the Gospels cannot fail to recognise therein abundant 
Gospels. evidence that the name, Son of God, was familiar 

to the Jews, altogether irrespective of Christ's claim to it. 
They recognised it as being the distinctive name of a divine 
Person, who was equal with God the Father. As so understood 
by them, Jesus asserted this as his proper name. Upon this 
ground, he was tried before the Sanhedrim, and condemned, on 
the charge of blasphemy. When he was on the cross, this ac- 
cusation was urged against him ; with the challenge, that, if he 
were such as he claimed, he would prove it by coming down. 
The priests recognised his foretold resurrection as the test of 
the question; and therefore sealed the stone, and set the guard. 
And, when he rose, his disciples proclaimed that fact, as the 
conclusive proof that he was the Son of God. Let us glance 
at these several points. 

In the second Psalm, the Jews had been made familiar with 
the name of the Son of God. We might further show, were it 



sect, v.] The Triune Creator. 63 

necessary, that they understood the passages in Proverbs, in the 
sense which we have attributed to them. Nebuchadnezzar, 
who had been fully instructed, as to the coming and history of 
Messiah's kingdom, by his own prophetic vision of the image, and 
the stone cut without hands, as well as by the conversation and 
history of Daniel, shows his familiarity with this name and its 
meaning, when, upon occasion of the martyrdom of Shadrach, 
Meshach and Abednego, he says, "Did not we cast three men 
bound, into the midst of the fire ? Lo, I see four men loose, walk- 
ing in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt ; and the form 
of the fourth is like the Son of God." — Dan. iii. 25. Hence, 
when our Saviour came, the Jews, familiar with these Scriptures, 
at once perceived his claim to the name in question to involve the 
assertion of divinity. On one occasion, Christ having healed a 
man on the Sabbath day, he replied to the accusation of Sabbath- 
breaking, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. There- 
fore sought the Jews the more to kill him, because he had not 
only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, 
making himself equal with God." — John v. 18. Jesus is so far 
from modifying or explaining the language, as though he had 
been misunderstood, that he goes on to expatiate at length in 
similar terms ; and makes various statements as to his preroga- 
tives and powers, which went to sustain the same claim of 
divinity. He asserts community of working with the Father, 
and power to renew and transform the living, to raise the dead, 
and judge the world; and vindicates these claims by appeal to 
the testimony of his word and works, of John, of Moses, and 
of the Father. — John v. 19-45. On occasion of healing a blind 
man, he asks the man, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 
He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe 
on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, 
and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I be- 
lieve. And he worshipped him." — John ix. 35-38. Here, Jesus 
assumes the man to understand the meaning of this name, — 
an assumption which his answer fully justified. All he needs 
is, to be told to whom that dread and glorious title belongs ; 
and, upon being informed, he at once pays him divine worship. 



64 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. i. 

Again, having excited the rage of the Jews, by calling God his 
Father, and saying, "I and my Father are one," they charge 
him with blasphemy; " because that thou, being a man, makes t 
thyself God." Jesus, then, alluding to the Scripture in which 
it is written of Israel, "I said, Ye are gods," proceeds to vin- 
dicate his claim to that title, in a much higher sense; and de- 
clares his works to be proof "that the Father is in me, and I 
in him. Therefore they sought again to take him; but he es- 
caped out of their hand." — John x. 30-39. 

This assertion of sonship to God, was the very ground on 
which he was accused and condemned by the senate of Israel. 
" The high-priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by 
the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, 
the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said : never- 
theless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man 
sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of 
heaven. Then the high-priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath 
spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? 
behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? 
They answered and said, He is guilty of death." — Matt. xxvi. 
6.3-66. Afterward, when urging Pilate to gratify their malice, 
one plea is, " He maketh himself a king ;" and the other, " By 
our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of 
God." — John xix. 7-12. These were the charges upon which 
he was condemned; as the inscription on his cross and the scoffs 
of those who passed by testify. They reviled him, saying, " If 
thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." "If he be 
the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and 
we will believe him. He trusted in God ; let him deliver him 
now, if he will have him : for he said, I am the Son of 
God."— Matt, xxvii. 40, 42, 43. How directly all this had 
respect to the language of the second Psalm, we need not point 
out. Evidently, its declarations were present to the minds 
of all the actors. So distinctly and publicly was it recognised, 
that the question at issue was the divine sonship of Christ, that 
the Koman centurion, by whom the execution was conducted, 
overwhelmed by the prodigies which attended the scene, de- 



sect, vi.] The Triune Creator. 65 

clared them conclusive proof of the justice of his claim. He 
exclaims, "Truly this was the Son of God." — Matt, xxvii. 54. 
Accordingly, when he was risen from the dead, he makes his first 
announcement of the fact to Mary Magdalene, in terms assert- 
ing this relation: — " Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended 
to my Father." — John xix. 17. The Apostle John closes his 
narrative, by saying, " These things were written, that ye might 
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that be- 
lieving ye might have life through his name." — John xx. 31. 
And Paul, in the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans, de- 
clares the gospel to be concerning Jesus Christ our Lord, " which 
was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and de- 
clared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit 
of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." — Eom. i. 1-4. 

Now, let it be observed, that, in the whole course of Christ's 
ministry, there is not a trace of any hesitation on the part of any 
one of his hearers, in reference to the meaning of the name, Son of 
God. Whether Nathanael at Bethsaida, (John i. 49,) his disciples 
wondering at his power over winds and waves, (Matt. xiv. 33,) 
the blind man restored to sight ; devils in terror of him as their 
final judge, (Matt. viii. 29,) the people abroad, (John v. 18, x. 
30,) or the sanhedrim in council, (Matt. xxvi. 63,) whenever 
that title was used respecting him, or claimed by him, it is re- 
cognised at once and by all as the well-known and appropriate 
designation of an incommunicable divine nature. In calling 
himself, Son of God, they regarded him as claiming equality 
with God. Knowing them so to understand him, he still con- 
tinues to employ the name; and when put upon oath before the 
high-priest, affirms the title, and claims that as such he will be 
the Judge of quick and dead. Can there be any question that 
the name so employed and signalized was a name of the divine 
nature of the Saviour of the world ? 

We have cursorily cited a scripture, which demands more 

particular notice. Pbom. i. 1-4 : — " Paul, a servant of Jesus 

Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the 

derived from gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his 

the Epistles. prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son 



66 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. i. 

Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David 
according to the flesh ; and declared to be the Son of God with 
power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection 
from the dead." Here, the apostle draws a contrast between 
the human and divine nature which were in Christ. His 
human nature is designated by the phrase, (xaza odpxa,) " ac- 
cording to the flesh;" and his divine nature, by the correspond- 
ing expression, (xara Trvsdfia ckytwauvr^,) "according to (or, as 
to) his holy spiritual nature." Of his human nature, his 
flesh, the apostle predicates a sonship to David. He was 
" made of the seed of David as to the flesh." But, as to his 
holy spiritual nature, he was " declared to be the Son of God 
with power." It is true, that the word here rendered " de- 
clared," does sometimes mean, to determine, or decree. But it 
is also true, that the apostle defines that of which he is speak- 
ing, in unequivocal terms, as being that in Christ which was 
in contrast with his human nature, "his holy spiritual nature." 
We do not discuss the question of the divinity of Christ ; but 
assume it as unquestionable. Upon this assumption, it is im- 
possible to evade the conclusion, that it is the divine nature of 
Christ of which Paul speaks, under the designation, "holy, 
spiritual," and it is of this that he predicates sonship; — sonship, 
too, which, however demonstrated, as we have seen it was, by 
his resurrection, could not in any way be produced or originated 
thereby. In short, if as here asserted his sonship belongs to 
his divine nature, it must be essential and eternal in that 
nature ; since the nature of God is in every sense unchangeable. 
The conclusion thus attained, is by Paul presented in its rela- 
tion to the history of which we have already spoken. When 
Jesus was on trial, his answer to the demand whether he was 
the Son of God, was, " I am : and ye shall see the Son of man 
sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds 
of heaven." — Mark xiv. 62. To this assertion of his joint 
Godhead and humanity, and of his authority and power, as 
God-man, to judge the world at the last day, Paul evidently 
alludes : — " The gospel which I preach is concerning Jesus 
Christ our Lord, who was the Son of man, for he was as to his 



sect, vii.] The Triune Creator. 67 

flesh, the son of David ; but he was also the Son of God, clothed 
with power as the judge of quick and dead, at whose voice they 
that sleep in the dust shall rise ; and this he has declared, show- 
ing himself to be the Son of God with power, by himself rising 
from the dead." 

We cannot omit a rapid glance at the testimony of Paul, to 
the Hebrews. " God, who at sundry times and in divers man- 
ners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath 
in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath ap- 
pointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds ; 
who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image 
of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his 
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on 
the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much 
better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a 
more excellent name than they." — Heb. i. 1-4. In respect to 
this scripture, and the whole argument of the epistle, let these 
things be observed. 1. The design of the apostle is to signalize 
to the children of Abraham the pre-eminent glory and excel- 
lence of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. Himself an Hebrew of the 
Hebrews, Paul was fully aware of the fact that his people re- 
garded the title, Son of God, as a name asserting a supreme 
and coequal divinity with the Father, as we have already suffi- 
ciently seen. 3. Knowing this, the apostle in this deliberately 
written argument, designed to go nakedly forth, to be under- 
stood according to the accepted meaning of its terms, where any 
explanations, or cautions as to a particular sense, would be im- 
possible, describes the Lord Jesus by this title. 4. To him thus 
designated, he attributes every characteristic of divinity ; and 
at the same time, in respect to them all, employs terms appro- 
priate to the filial relation to the Father so indicated. It is as 
the only begotten that he is Son, having "obtained by inherit- 
ance" that name which is, by adoption and union with him, con- 
ferred on the saints. It is as the Son that he is "the brightness 
of the Father's glory and the express image of his person;" 
and as Son he is heir and Lord of all things. — Heb. i. 2, iii. 6. 
By the Son, God " made the worlds." He " upholdeth all things 



68 The Mohim Revealed. [chap. i. 

by the word of his power." In short, to him, as Son, are the 
title, the dominion and the prerogatives of God emphatically 
applied. " Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, God, is for 
ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy 
kingdom," &c. 

Again, in the third chapter, the apostle uses an argument, 
which is alike conclusive to the divinity and the eternal sonship 
of Christ. " He was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, 
inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour 
than the house. For every house is builded (pno twos) by some 
one ; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was 
faithful in all his house as a servant; . . . but Christ as a Son, 
over his own house." — Heb. iii. 3-6. Here the- glory of Christ 
is displayed, by contrast with Moses, in the argument that, as he 
was Mosesi maker, he must be infinitely more glorious than that 
great prophet. Furthermore, inasmuch as, not only of Moses, 
but of all things, he is the maker and upholder, he must be 
God; since "he that made all things is God." The apostle, 
then, in a very remarkable way, identifies the sonship and the 
divinity of Christ. Moses was faithful as a servant ; " but 
Christ as a Son over his own house." As Son, he was the 
Father's agent in creating all things ; and, as Son, he is pro- 
prietor of all things, by a double title : first, as thus by him 
they were made ; and, second, as he, being Son, is heir to the 
Father. He, therefore, as Son, exercises a most unquestionable 
right, when he rules all things; since they are "his own house." 

"Were it necessary, we might insist upon the many passages 
where the language clearly implies the relation of the Father 
and Son to have subsisted prior to any of the trans- 
scripturai ar- actions in the plan of redemption ; on which it is 
guments. sometimes attempted to predicate the origination 

of these names. Thus, when our Saviour says, " God so loved 
the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son. . . . For God 
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world," — John 
iii. 16, 17, the entire force of the argument in proof of the 
love of God, turns upon the assumption that he whom he or- 
dained and sent, was his Son prior to his mission; — that, in 



sect, vii.] The Triune Creator. 69 

giving him to the world, he was robbing himself of a relation 
so near and tender. To say that he became the Son of God, 
by coming into the world, or after his coming, is to deprive the 
argument of the Saviour of its preciousness and force. A per- 
son professes special kindness to another. In proof of it, he 
asserts that, on the other's behalf, he had hazarded the life 
of his own son. But, on inquiry, it appears that the sonship 
is only by adoption ; and that its date is subsequent to the trans- 
action referred to. Who wo aid not condemn the statement as 
doubly false ? first, in calling him an own son, who was only 
an adopted child ; and, second, in presenting the relation as an 
element in an occurrence which took place before the relation 
had existence ? Yet such is the impeachment to which Christ, 
in his language to Nicodemus, and his apostles, in many similar 
places, are exposed, by the interpretation which denies the eter- 
nal sonship. 

It is worthy of serious consideration, that the rejection 
of this doctrine involves principles which utterly impoverish 
the testimony of the Scriptures, on the subject of the adoption 
and sonship which belong to the people of God. That adoption 
does not consist in a mere arbitrary designating and treating of 
them as sons. But they are sons by virtue of their being the 
members, the seed, of Christ the only-begotten Son. " Accord- 
ing to our doctrine, Christ has made us the sons of God, to- 
gether with himself, by the privilege of a fraternal union, 
because he is, in our nature, which he assumed, the only- 
begotten Son of God."* Now, if Christ's sonship be native, 
we recognise a precious reality in a sonship to God, consequent 
upon union with him. But, if Christ's own sonship is merely 
adoptive, the whole conception of our relation to the Father 
becomes obscure and inane. Then, either are we, by the im- 
mediate adoption of the Father, as nearly related as is the only- 
begotten ; or else, Christ being the medium, our relation is that 
of adoption in the second degree, — adopted sons through him 
who is but the adopted Son. In short, whenever and however 
he became so, Christ is not an adopted son, but the only begotten. 

* Calvin's Institutes, Book II. xiv. 7. 



70 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. i. 

The attempt is made to evade the force of the abundant ar- 
guments, at some of which we have glanced, by the sug- 
§ 9. Objections gestion, that Christ was Son of God, by virtue of his 
answered. miraculous conception ; or, of his resurrection from 

the dead. In proof of the former position, appeal is made to the 
language of the angel to Mary : — " The Holy Ghost shall come 
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
thee : therefore, also, that holy thing which shall be born of 
thee shall be called the Son of God." — Luke i. 35. But, even 
were we to allow the interpretation which is contended for, it 
does not involve the conclusion upon which opposers of our doc- 
trine insist. This same writer, Luke, traces the genealogy 
of Jesus to Adam, " which was the son of God." — Luke iii. 38. 
And it is unquestionable that, as Adam was the son of God, 
by virtue of the immediate agency of God in his creation, so, in 
a very analogous manner, the second Adam, as to his human 
nature, was a son of God by virtue of the miraculous mode of 
his generation, which is spoken of by the angel. But this, so 
far from precluding the doctrine of the eternal sonship, is en- 
tirely congruous with it. It would seem eminently becoming, 
that the eternal Son, in uniting his nature with that of man, 
should be invested with a humanity sustaining to the Father a 
relation as nearly filial as man's nature may. We, therefore, 
readily admit that this was comprehended in the meaning of 
the angel. But, that it was all which he meant, we most stre- 
nuously deny ; and if it was all which Mary herself understood, 
or was intended to understand, — which is by no means to be ad- 
mitted, — she would but be in the condition in which were the 
prophets. They were conscious of very inadequate conceptions 
respecting the things which are now by us clearly understood in 
their writings. (1 Pet. i. 10-12.) Whilst the man, Christ Jesus, 
was son of God, by virtue of his miraculous conception ; the 
mediatorial person was in a much higher sense the Son, the 
only-begotten, of the Father. He is so, by virtue of the fact, 
that, in him, the Second Person of the Trinity, the eternal 
Son of God, is one person with the son of Mary. And it is in 
reference to the typical relation of the first Adam to the second, 



sect, ix.] The Triune Creator. 71 

that the former, although sustaining a relation to God which 
was only a shadow of that of Christ, is designated, "son of 
God." The testimony of all the Scriptures is in harmony with 
this interpretation of the language of the angel; whilst the 
other is open to several insurmountable objections. It entirely 
ignores the eternity of the generation, which, as we have seen, 
the Scriptures elsewhere unequivocally attest. Further, it is 
the Holy Spirit, and not the Father, to whom the miraculous 
conception is attributed; and yet Christ is never called the Son 
of the Spirit. Not only so, but his title, Son of God, as used 
among the Jews, had manifestly no allusion to the manner of 
the birth of Jesus. We have not the slightest reason to sup- 
pose them to have known any thing whatever of the miraculous 
conception. That they should have imagined the name to have 
any reference to such a fact, is altogether irreconcilable with 
the whole tenor of the New Testament on the subject. An 
illustration of this is seen in the confession of Nathanael. He 
knew nothing of Jesus, except that he was from Nazareth. 
Upon this fact, he predicates the inquiry, " Can any good thing 
come out of Nazareth?" But no sooner does our Saviour 
evince to this true Israelite his omniscience, by the declaration, 
"Before that Peter called thee, when thou wast under the fig- 
tree, I saw thee," then he replies, "Babbi, thou art the Son 
of God; thou art the king of Israel." — John i. 49. To say, that 
the miraculous conception was the ground of this profession of 
faith, is to trifle with the subject. All that Nathanael knew 
of Christ was, that in him was incarnate Omniscience. So, this 
hypothesis is entirely inconsistent with the fact, that the Jews 
at large recognised this name as conveying an assertion of 
equality with God; and that the sense in which the title was 
claimed by Christ was such as, if false, involved him by their 
law in the charge of blasphemy. To say, that he used the 
word in another than the received sense, is, to accuse him of 
deceit ; and involves the conclusion, that he died a martyr to 
falsehood, rather than a witness to the truth. To pretend that 
the council understood him, by that name, to mean no more than 
that he was miraculously born, is folly. 



72 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. i. 

The most of these objections apply to the theory which sup- 
poses him to have become the Son of God by the resurrection; 
with this in addition : — It involves the falsehood of all his claims 
to this name; and of all the Father's testimonies to him, prior 
to his resurrection. He did not say to the Jews, "I will become 
the Son of God;" but, "I am the Son;" and the Father says, 
"This is my beloved Son." He was not condemned and cruci- 
fied upon a charge so absurd, — that he declared that if killed, 
he would rise again; but because he said, "I am the Son of God;" 
making himself equal with God. However the relation arose, 
one thing is unquestionable : — that, alike by his own, the Bap- 
tist's, and the Father's testimony, he was the Son of God, from 
the beginning of his ministry. 

We might appeal to that large class of scriptures, which use 
this, as the highest title they can apply to Him who " counted 
it not robbery to be equal with God." Paul can find no 
stronger terms, in which to describe the condescension and love 
of God, than, that he "hath spoken to us by his Son." — Heb. i. 2. 
Nor can he more strongly express the wickedness of those who 
reject Christ, than by saying that they "have trodden under 
foot the Son of God." — Heb. x. 29. In other places, the name 
is used as the peculiar and only proper designation of Christ, in 
his specific character, as God. Thus, it is in the baptismal ser- 
vice; wherein, if ever, are indicated the distinctive relations of 
the Three to each other as revealed for the faith and adoration 
of men. We might also point to the peculiar manner in which 
Jesus and his apostles use the title, "the Father," to designate 
the First Person of the Three. Upon these points we cannot 
dwell. There are, however, two or three additional arguments, 
which we may not omit to notice. 

1. If these names do not constitute designations, intended to 
announce the First and Second Persons of the Tri- 

nsichrations n ^Y> as distinct subsistences of the Godhead, pe- 
culiarly related to each other, — then there are no 
such designations. That " there are Three that bear record in 
heaven," is unquestionable. That their relations to each other 
must be several and distinctive, is equally unquestionable. 



sect, ix.] The Triune Creator. 73 

That the Holy One has revealed himself to man, in the use of a 
variety of names, each of which is appropriated to the illustra- 
tion of some grand characteristic of the divine nature and its 
relations to man, — and that these names, taken together, serve 
to proclaim almost every important element in those character- 
istics, — every one knows, who knows any thing of his Bible. 
That the Third Person is made known by a name which is pecu- 
liar to him, and descriptive of his relations to the other Persons, 
is also incontrovertible. Is it, then, conceivable that the First 
and Second are left without names equally descriptive and pe- 
culiar to them, as subsisting in the Codhead and concurring in 
man's creation and redemption, each in his appropriate mode? 
Can this be possible, when these are they, as Christ declares, 
the knowledge of whom, in their several and united divinity, is 
eternal life? (John xvii. 3.) 

2. Still more absurd appears such an assumption, when we 
find that the Scriptures do actually reveal the names of Father 
and Son; and appropriate them in such a way as precisely to 
fill all the conditions of the case here set forth. In baptism, — 
that most signal act of homage, in which the recovered mem- 
bers of a race apostate from Cod enter anew into his covenant, 
and consecrate themselves to him, as the object of their worship, 
and the author of their salvation, the Triune Cod, — the Persons 
of the Codhead are announced by the several names, "the Father, 
the Son and the Holy Chost." Thus is the distinctive name of 
the Third Person given ; and with it are associated designations 
of the other Persons, which, thus occurring, we must conclude 
to be equally appropriate, equally descriptive and divine. This 
argument is yet further strengthened, by the fact that there is 
nothing revealed, concerning either the nature or the works of 
these blessed Persons, which does not find its normal relation 
to, and exposition in, these names, and the doctrine which they 
contain. Fully to unfold this argument, would be to write a 
volume. And our present treatise is designed to set forth, 
imperfectly, some of the great truths concerning Cod, in this 
very aspect. For the present, it is enough to suggest, that 
if eternal blessedness is attributed to these adorable Ones, it is 



74 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. i. 

as the Son rejoices always before the Father and dwells in his 
bosom; whilst the Father delights in him, his beloved, his Son. 
If they are the Creator of all things, it is as the Father forms 
the plan, and commissions the Son, his appropriate agent, to 
perform the work. If the plan of salvation is unfolded, it is as 
the Father devises it, and sends the Son. And the Son, on the 
other hand, though essentially equal, yet thus relatively as Son 
subordinate, presents himself, saying, "Lo, I come to do thy 
will." In short, he who will examine with careful scrutiny the 
whole revelation, concerning the Persons and works of the Tri- 
nity, will discover that every thing has its solution in these 
names ; and the entire scheme acquires congruity and beauty, 
as its elements cluster around the central truths which are in- 
volved in their use, and asserted in appropriate description of 
the things signified by them. In fact, the unavoidable alterna- 
tive is, practically to ignore the fact of a specific relation be- 
tween the Persons of the Godhead, and assume that all which 
is revealed to us respecting them is, that, in some sense, they 
are three, and, in some other sense, one; or, else, distinctly to 
recognise the reality and significance of the doctrine of the 
eternal generation. For, in the Scriptures, every thing which 
is said by way of particular revelation, on the subject of the 
divine plurality, is spoken in terms of this doctrine. Every 
thing tends to present it as one of the essential relations in 
which the unity, plurality and perfections of God have their 
solution, and shine forth to bless the creatures. 

3. Our last argument' the reader will be better prepared to 
appreciate, when the discussions of this volume are closed. We 
merely state it ; to be kept in view, as we endeavour to unfold 
and contemplate the wondrous way of God with man. In the 
whole doctrine of the Bible concerning God and man, the names 
and the relations of father and son occupy a position of signal 
importance. However to be explained, they are used, as we 
have seen, in a most intimate relation to the nature of God him- 
self and the creation of all things. In them, we have the terms 
of the problem respecting the ruin of our race, — Adam our 
father and his sons. In the plan of redemption, Christ appears 



sect, x.] The Triune Creator. 75 

alternately, Son of man, bearing the curse, — Son of God, tri- 
umphing over Satan and death, — and father of a seed, who are 
redeemed by his blood. In the consummation of the work of 
grace, God proclaims himself our Father; and the full glory of 
that love and grace of God, which has embraced our world, cul- 
minates in the adoption of sons, and the privileges and inherit- 
ance thence resulting, on earth and forever in heaven. To us, 
these facts, which give the Scriptures all their lustre, and make 
the love and grace of God to shine in an ineffable light, are 
utterly irreconcilable with the supposition that the relations, 
paternal and filial, thus honoured, are relations merely human. 
Is it conceivable, that the glorious nature of God and Persons 
of the Godhead, the history of man, and the several steps in the 
scheme of God's eternal glory and man's unending bliss, all re- 
volve as satellites around a relation purely human, — a relation 
limited to the earth, and destined to perish with the passing 
scenes of time ? This seems especially absurd, when we remem- 
ber the fact of man's destination to be the image and likeness 
of God; and the purpose of the whole work of God to be, the 
revelation and glory, — not of man, but of God. Of all this we 
shall see more hereafter. 

an. Sum of Brown of Haddington compresses the scriptural 

the scriptural evidence, as to the eternal generation, into a few 
argument. brief paragraphs, which are here presented, as a 

recapitulation of the Bible argument. 

" He is not the Son of God by his miraculous conception and 
birth. (1.) The Holy Ghost is never represented as his Father, 
nor could be, without admitting two fathers in the Godhead. 
That 'holy thing born' is called the Son of God, because his 
manhood subsisted in the person of the Son of God. — Luke i. 35. 
He had the character and relation of Son of God, long before 
his conception or birth. — Prov. xxx. 4 ; Psalm ii. 7 ; Gal. iv. 4 ; 
John iii. 16, 17. (2.) According to his human nature or flesh, 
he is the Son of man, — of Abraham, David, — and not the Son of 
God. (3.) His being 'made of a woman' was subsequent to his 
being the Son of God. — Komans viii. 3, 32 ; Gal. iv. 4. (4.) His 
extraordinary conception and birth could never render him ' the 



76 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. i. 

only begotten Son of God/ as he is termed, — John i. 14, and iii. 
16, 18; 1 John iv. 9; since Adam was his son by creation, and 
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, and John Baptist, were 
procreated by extraordinary influence; tho' indeed very differ- 
ent from that which was exerted in the production of Christ's 
manhood. 

"]STor is he called the Son of God, on account of God's raising 
him from the dead; for (1) He was the Son of God long before. 
—Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5; John v. 16, 17, x. 30, 36; Mark xiv. 61, 
62; Matt. xvi. 15, 16; John vi. 69, i. 49. (2.) If his resurrection 
had rendered him the Son of God, he would have been his own 
father, as he raised himself. — John x. 17, 18, ii. 19. (3.) This 
could not have rendered him 'the only begotten Son of God/ as 
millions beside have or shall be raised from the dead. — Matt, 
xxvii. 52, 53; John v. 28, 29; 1 Thess. iv. 14, 16; Eev. xx. 12. 
Nor doth Acts xiii. 33 import that he became Son of God by his 
resurrection, but that his sonship was manifested by it, (compare 
Horn. i. 3, 4 ;) and that his resurrection publicly proved that the 
word of salvation, particularly that Psalm ii. 7, 8, was then ex- 
hibited, given, and fulfilled to men. 

"Nor doth his mediatorial office constitute him the Son of 
God. (1.) A mission on an errand, or an appointment to service, 
cannot, in the nature of things, constitute sonship. (2.) His son- 
ship is represented as prior to his commission to, or execution 
of, his mediatorial office. — John iii. 16; Gal. iv. 4; 1 John iv. 9, 10, 
iii. 8; Heb. v. 8. (3.) His divine sonship puts virtue into his 
mediatorial office ; and ' so cannot depend on it. — Heb. iv. 14. 
(4.) His being ' from the Father' in respect to his sonship is ex- 
pressly distinguished from his being ■ sent' to execute his media- 
torial office. — John vii. 29. 

"But he is the Son of God by necessary and eternal genera- 
tion; — that is, by such necessity, that the divine nature cannot 
at all exist without subsisting in him, in the form and relation 
of a Son to the First Person. (1.) In many texts of Scripture, 
he is simply called the Son of God, and in that character repre- 
sented as the Most High God, the Lord God of his people, the 
Lord God, God the Saviour.— Luke i. 16, 17, 32, 35, 46, 47,— as 



sect, xi.] The Triune Creator. 



i i 



coming from heaven and above all, — John iii. 31 ; Matt. xi. 27, 
— and as the object of faith and worship, — John iii. 17, 36, ix. 
35-38; Matt. iv. 33, xxvii. 54, — or as the same with God, — Heb. 
i. 8; 1 John iii. 8, with 1 Tim. iii. 16, — and as equal with his 
Father. — Matt, xxviii. 19; John v. 21. (2.) God hath given the 
most solemn and emphatic testimonies to his divine sonship. — 
Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5. The first of these texts, literally translated, 
runs, ' This is that my Son, my beloved one, in whom I am well 
pleased.' And in the other, we are commanded to 'hear him,' 
as infinitely superior to Moses and Elias, his then visitants, who 
had been the most extraordinary of all the Old Testament pro- 
phets (3.) The Scriptures represent him as God's 'own Son,' 

his 'proper Son,' his 'Son of himself.' — Johni. 14, 18, iii. 16, 18; 
Eom. viii. 3, 32; 1 John iv. 9, 12. If these expressions do not 
represent him as the Son by natural generation, what can do it ? 
(4.) His being the Christ, Messiah, or Mediator is plainly distin- 
guished from his being the Son of God. — John i. 49, vi. 69 ; Matt, 
xvi. 16; Heb. v. 8; 1 John iv. 14. (5.) When he was charged 
with blasphemy in making himself equal with God, by calling 
himself the Son of God, he plainly acquiesced in their interpre- 
tation of his words ; and, instead of showing them that his claim 
of sonship to God, did not infer his claim of equality with God, 
he took occasion further to assert and demonstrate his supreme 
Godhead.— John v. 16-29, x. 30-36, xix. 7; Matt, xxvi. 63-65. 
ISTay, perhaps, 'making himself equal with God,' John v. 18, 
are not the words of the persecuting Jews, but of the inspired 
evangelist. (6.) It was not from acts properly mediatorial, but 
from divine acts, that he was concluded to be the Son of God. — 
Matt, iv. 3, 6, xiv. 33, xxvii. 40, 54; John i. 49. (7.) If the title, 
Son of man, import his possession of a real manhood, his cha- 
racter, Son of God, God's proper Son, Son of himself, and only 
begotten Son of God, must certainly import his possession of the 
divine nature, — true and supreme Godhead. Now, if he be the 
Son of God, by nature, he must be his eternal Son, begotten 
from all eternity; for nothing that is not necessarily eternal in 
the highest sense, can be natural to God. ISFor is there the 
least impropriety in God's calling his own eternity, 'this day,' as 



78 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. i. 

an unsuccessive eternity is ever present. — Ps. ii. 7, with Isa. xliii. 
13; Micali v. 2. Nor is the generation of his Son there repre- 
sented as an event decreed, bnt as antecedent to, or fundamental 
of, (rod's grant of the Gentiles to him for his mediatorial inhe- 
ritance."* 

The evidence at which we have glanced, abundantly esta- 
blishes the position that the name, Father, is that by which the 
a 12 The Doe -First Person of the Trinity is designated, in respect 
trine of the to his distinctive personality, in the unity of the 
Trinity. Godhead; — that, reciprocal to this, the name, Son, 

is appropriated in like manner to the Second Person; — and, 
that the relation which they sustain to each other is appro- 
priately described in terms of the phenomenon of begetting or 
generation. It is not questioned, by any who believe in the 
Trinity, that the name, Holy Spirit, is the distinctive title of the 
divine nature as subsisting in the Third Person of the Godhead. 
Thus we have the mystery of the blessed Trinity clearly set 
forth, to our apprehension and worship, in the names here con- 
sidered; by the use of which, in the ordinance of baptism, we 
profess and seal our faith. 

As to the meaning of these names and of the corresponding 
phraseology of Scripture, we can say but little. Man's darkened 
understanding only comes to any adequate sense of its own ruin, 
in the presence of the questions concerning the nature of that 
holy and glorious One, in whose likeness he w T as originally made ; 
of whom he is now able to understand so little. And, al- 
though this is eternal life, to know the only true God, and 
Jesus Christ his Son, — the knowledge enjoyed by the believer 
here, consists rather in an affectionate embrace, than in large 
intellectual conceptions respecting the nature of Him who is thus 
known. In heaven it will be otherwise: — "We shall see as we 
are seen, and know even as also we are known." Yet are there 
two or three points so plainly revealed, that it is our privilege 
to believe and assert them as truths; however dull our appre- 
hensions, as to their meaning. 

1. Such is the relation which the First and Second Persons 

* Brown's Natural and Eevealed Religion, Book II. ch. ii. § 2. 



sect, xl] The Triune Creator. 79 

sustain to each other, as to the manner of their subsistence, that 
the one infinite nature is communicated from the Father to the 
Son, in a generation, not voluntary, but of the very nature of 
the divine essence ; — a generation which is not occasional, but 
continual ; which does not originate, but is from everlasting and 
to everlasting ; and in which, each of those blessed Persons pos- 
sesses the whole infinite fulness of the divine essence, not jointly, 
but in common and undivided.* 

2. Whilst this wondrous generation of the Son does indicate 
a priority of the Father, in the order of subsistence and of ope- 
ration, — yet is it so far from implying any essential or real in- 
feriority in the Son, that it involves directly the reverse. A 
superficial view might suggest the idea that analogy is opposed 
to the equality of father and son. But in fact, even among men, 
the difference is merely one of order and precedence of action, 
dependent upon temporal relations, and reasons of social conve- 
nience. Essentially, they are equal ; possessing the same nature, 
and endowed with the same attributes. The Jews, seeking to 
kill Jesus, " because he said that God was his Father, making 
himself equal with God," — John v. 18, were correct in the conclu- 
sion which they derived from the language of Christ; and fully 
sustained by analogy, in coming to that conclusion. 

3. As to the Holy Spirit, the mode of his subsistence is by a 
necessary and eternal communication of the same divine essence, 
which is in the Father and Son, not by generation, but by a spi- 
ration or breathing forth, from them; through which the Third 
Person has communion in the divine nature coequally with the 
First and Second. Here the remark, already made respecting 
the Son, is to be applied; — that the relation thus subsisting is one 
of essential equality; inasmuch as it involves the possession by 
each of the whole fulness of the one divine essence, in which 
each Person equally and wholly subsists. 

* ''lit omnis generatio dicit communicationem essentiae a parte gignentis genito, per 
quam genitus fiat similis gignenti, et eanderu cum ipso naturam participet; ita genera- 
tio ista admirabilis recte exponitur per communicationem essentiae a Patre, per quern 
eandem cum illo essentiam Filius indivisibiliter possidet, et illi sit simillimus." — Turret- 
tin., Loc. III., Quasst. xxix. 4. 



80 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. i. 

4. Not only are these Persons of the Godhead coequal, but 
coeternal. Although the phenomena of generation and spira- 
tion, as observed in men ; intimate — as do all phenomena of crea- 
tures — finite origin and temporal succession, this suggestion is 
precluded in the cases here considered, by the fact that the 
phenomena are predicated of the very nature of God. And as 
every idea of beginning or change is incompatible with true 
conceptions respecting that nature, it follows, that the Three 
are equally and alike unoriginated and eternal, — a conclusion 
abundantly attested by the Scriptures. 

5. From the whole doctrine here stated, it will be seen that 
it would be improper to speak of any one of the Persons as 
God, in contradistinction to the rest. Whilst each one is 
God, it is by a common and not a several divinity; by virtue of 
the common possession of the one undivided divine essence. It is 
objected that the assertion of three divine Persons is equivalent 
to saying that there are three Gods. But the objection is 
groundless. A person is a several subsistence, endowed with a 
moral nature. And although there be three several subsistences 
in the divine nature, and therefore three Persons, this is per- 
fectly consistent with the unity of the Godhead ; since the nature 
or essence in which these Three subsist is a unit. There is 
"one Lord, and his name one." — Zech. xiv. 9. 

Should any object to the phraseology employed in this dis- 
cussion; and insist that the various expressions used, such as, 
" communication," "begetting," "generation," "spiration," are 
expressive of finite and human relations; and, by the very force 
of the terms, involve the supposition that the relations so de- 
scribed are of a finite nature and temporal origin, — our reply 
is, — that if the nature of God were described in terms peculiar 
to it alone, the result would be to render the account utterly 
unintelligible; — that most of the objectionable expressions are 
the very words of the Scripture; and all of them abundantly 
authorized by scriptural usage; — and that, as we have suffi- 
ciently seen, the manner in which they are introduced, and the 
subjects to which they are applied, obviate any danger of mis- 
apprehension on the part of the candid and teachable. In fact, 



sect, xii.] The Triune Creator. 81 

there are very few words employed in the Bible, to designate 
divine perfections, which do not require to be understood in a 
sense different from that recognised in their application to other 
things. We are justified, by the usage of the sacred writers, 
in attributing thought, deliberation and decision, to God. 
Yet a moment's reflection must satisfy the intelligent reader, 
that it is as impossible for our finite capacities to conceive of 
these, divested of relation to time, as so to conceive of genera- 
tion. The attempt is vain by searching to find out God. 

The object of this discussion has been, — not so much a full 
exposition of the doctrine concerning the nature of God, — as, a 
notice of some of the aspects of that nature, which, commonly, 
are less insisted upon, and which sustain very important rela- 
tions to the doctrines of the following pages. 

The Three whom we have here seen, in revealed, yet myste- 
rious relations to each other, are that one God whom we adore, 
— a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable : in his being, wis- 
dom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth; by whom all 
things were created, and for whose pleasure they are, and were 
created. Unto Him be glory, in the church, by Christ Jesus, 
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ETEKNAL PLAN. 
" His ways are everlasting." — Habbakuk iii. 6. 

It would be extreme folly, or madness, were an individual to 
expend toil and money, in the construction of a vast and com- 
§ 1. Wisdom plicated piece of mechanism, without having fixed 
demands an on any specific object to be accomplished by it. 
object. Tlie same charge would apply, if, having a purpose 

in view, he should proceed, without careful consideration so as 
to adapt his means to the proposed end ; or should he devise a 
suitable plan and place it in the hands of the superintendent, 
whilst individual workmen are permitted to act independently 
of that plan, and to use such materials and work to such a 
model as may happen to suit their convenience or strike their 
fancy. In short, no intelligent person will bring his resources 
to task, without setting before himself some specific and suitable 
end ; it is the part of a wise man, proposing to himself such an 
end, to devise a plan as perfect in all its parts as possible, and 
in its execution to use such materials, labourers and machinery, 
and such only, as are precisely suited to the end in view ; and, 
to secure success, strict attention is as requisite to the minutest 
details as to the more extensive features. Not only so, but, 
where an enterprise has been undertaken, failure in any of its 
parts is proof either of ignorance or of want of forethought 
and deficiency of resources ; as it is certain that he who has fully 
comprehended the obstacles which lie in his way, unless he is 
conscious of resources adequate to surmount them, will abandon 
the plan as sure to fail. 

These principles are as applicable to the works of God, as to 
those of man. " Known unto God are all his works from the be- 

82 



sect, i.] The Eternal Plan. 83 

ginning of the world." — Acts xv. 18. If it is a characteristic of 
rational creatures that their acts are prompted by the expectation 
of attaining suitable ends, how much more must it be with Him 
whose understanding is infinite ! The existence of the simplest 
piece of mechanism, the product of human labour, demonstrates 
the maker to have had an object in view. What then must be 
our conclusion, as we behold the creation of God ; the heavens, 
the work of his fingers, the moon and the stars which he hath 
ordained, in all their astonishing structure and motions, our own 
bodies, so fearfully and wonderfully made, and the innumerable 
beings which fill and people earth and heaven ! Can we believe 
that He, who in wisdom made them all, had no object in so doing? 
The Scriptures are unambiguous in their testimony on this sub- 
ject. They declare the glory of the Creator to be the great 
end of all his works. 

Let us for a moment forget that the teeming universe has 
existence, and contemplate that eternity where Jehovah dwelt 
from everlasting. When, in the council of the blessed Three, 
creation was decreed, where shall we look for the motive of this 
determination? Certainly not to the creatures which as yet 
have no existence. To operate as a motive, to exercise an in- 
fluence, implies existence already possessed. But here, the very 
question is, whether such beings shall be called into existence. 
Plainly, the motive in such a case, must be sought, not in the 
possible creatures, who may, as the result, receive existence, but 
in the Being who is at once sole Existence and only Cause. Let 
it not, however, be imagined that this reason consisted in any 
need of the Creator ; as though by this means he could acquire 
any new power, pleasure, or emolument. This would, in any 
aspect of the supposition, be the contradiction and absurdity of 
supposing the creature, which receives its existence and all 
that is in it from him, and which lives and moves in him, to 
have something which is not from its Creator, the acquisition of 
which may be profitable to him. But the very name which he 
proclaims rebukes the impious suggestion : — " I am that I am. 
This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all 



84 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ii. 

generations." — Ex. iii. 14, 15. " I am that I am," — the self- 
existent, self-poised, independent, unchangeable, eternal. 

The sole reason of the creation was the mere good pleasure, 
the will, of the Creator. Hence the adoring song of the elders : 
a 2 . God's ob- — " Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory, and 
ject was to re- honour, and power ; for thou hast created all things, 
veal Mmseif. and ^ T0 0^fid (7oo,) because of thy will they are, 
and were created." — Eev. iv. 11. Thus, originating in the 
Creator's will, as its only cause, the creation has been by him 
destined to one great end, the revelation of God, the shedding 
abroad of his own glory. This is accomplished by the putting 
forth of such an agency and operation, as discovers the glory of 
the several Persons who coexist in the unity of the divine 
nature ; and by the distinctive unfolding and exercise of the several 
attributes which go to make up the infinite perfection of Cod. 
In two ways is creation adapted thus to glorify Cod ; as every 
creature is an object in which the divine attributes are revealed 
in exercise; and as intelligent creatures celebrate and adore the 
glory thus revealed ; so ; proclaiming it to each other. 

That such was the design of the creation, is asserted in many 
scriptures. " Of him, and through him, and to him, are all 
things, to whom be glory forever. Amen." — Eom. xi. 36. "I 
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the 
Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the 
Almighty." — Eev. i. 8. " The heavens declare the glory of 
God." — Ps. xix. 1. " The invisible things of him, from the crea- 
tion of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the 
things that are made; even his eternal power and Godhead." — 
Eom. i. 20. Of the wicked it is testified that " the Lord hath 
made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of 
evil." — Prov. xvi. 4. To Pharaoh, in his rebellion, God says, 
" In very deed for this cause have I raised thee up ; for to show 
in thee my power, and that my name may be declared through- 
out all the earth." — Ex. ix. 16. From this language, Paul takes oc- 
casion to ask, " What, if God, willing to show his wrath and to make 
his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels 
of wrath fitted to destruction ?" — Eom. ix. 22. On the other 



sect, i.] The Eternal Plan. 85 

hand, the Lord says of the righteous, " Every one that is called 
by my name, I have created him for my glory." — Isa. xliii. 7. 
The apostle urges, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought 
with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your 
spirit, which are God's." — 1 Cor. vi. 20. If rendering glory 
to God be the best acknowledgment we can make to re- 
deeming love, that must be the end to which we are made and 
redeemed. In accordance with this are the songs of heaven, of 
angels, and of the redeemed. " Glory to God in the highest L" . .is 
their strain, their hearts glowing with adoring raptures, and 
their lips exulting in the harmony of praise. " Blessing, and 
honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." — Kev. v. 13. 
This general purpose of God to display his own glory does not 
exclude, but comprehends, as elements of it, those secondary ends 
which assume so much importance, in the estimation of the 
creatures; such as the exercise of his goodness, love, justice, 
faithfulness, mercy and truth. These, severally, are but the 
partial radiations of that glory which consists in the harmony 
and fulness of them all combined. 

This purpose of God to reveal himself, implies much more 
than at first may be imagined. It involves the existence of in- 
telligent creatures, capable of receiving such a revelation; as 
well as of instrumentalities through which it may be made. It 
further implies the revelation to the intelligences and appre- 
hension by them of God, in the true beauty and glory of his 
nature as he really is. ISTot only must the light shine ; but, as 
it shines, it must be seen in its true lustre as light. To suppose 
any thing else, is to imagine a failure in the attempted revela- 
tion. But there is no other conceivable spring of the highest 
happiness to the creatures, so full and unfailing as this, — to ap- 
prehend and appreciate, in their real excellence and glory, the 
perfections of God. The creature who does this, cannot but be 
blessed in the contemplation. It is no arbitrary dictum which 
is uttered by the Saviour, when he says, " This is eternal life, 
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
whom thou hast sent."— John xvii. 3. It is the necessary effect 



86 TJw Eloldm Revealed. [chap. ii. 

of a realizing apprehension of the perfections which shine in the 
nature of God. Hence, this is the fountain to which, in the 
Scriptures, are traced all the joys of heaven itself. The inhabit- 
ants are blessed in the fact that they behold and celebrate the 
glory of God. Thus, then, we find involved, as an essential 
element in the great end proposed by God, infinite blessedness to 
the creatures, which he has thus seen good to identify with his 
own declarative glory. 

Proposing such ends as we have thus shown, God in the be- 
ginning formed a perfect plan for the accomplishment of his 
g 3. An eter- purpose ; — a plan, perfect in that it is precisely 
naipian. adapted to the end proposed; and perfect in the com- 

pleteness of all the details, and adaptation of every minutest 
element of it to its distinctive office, and in the entire symmetry 
and harmony of the whole. In this fact we have the key to that 
name of "Wisdom, which we have seen belongs to the Son of God ; 
and to the style in which he speaks, in the book of Proverbs : — 
" The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his 
works of old." " When he prepared the heavens, I was there : 
when he set a compass upon the face of the depth : when he 
established the clouds above : when he strengthened the fountains 
of the deep : when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters 
should not pass his commandment : when he appointed the foun- 
dations of the earth : then I was by him, as one brought up with 
him." — Prov. viii. 22-30. Here, it is undoubtedly the Son of 
God who speaks. But it is he, as from everlasting he was present 
with the Father, in the characteristic exercise of infinite wisdom, 
concurring in a glorious scheme of creation, providence and 
redemption, of which he, in time, by that same name, appears as 
the sole glorious administrator, and at length, in his own incarnate 
person, the embodiment and consummation. In him the whole 
wisdom of God which shines in his other works, concen- 
trates its scattered rays. " The Lord by wisdom hath founded 
the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.' — 
Prov. iii. 19. The testimony of Paul to the Ephesians is very 
clear and explicit on this subject. He says of the elect, that the 
Father hath chosen them in Christ, " before the foundation of 



sect, ii.] The Eternal Plan. 87 

the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him 
in love ; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children 
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his 
will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath 
made us accepted in the Beloved ; . . . . having made known unto 
us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which 
he hath purposed in himself; that in the dispensation of the ful- 
ness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, 
both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him ; 
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predesti- 
nated, according to the purpose of him who worketh all things 
after the counsel of his own will ; that we should be to the praise 
of his glory." — Eph. i. 4-12. Here the apostle attributes all 
things to the divine will as their only reason and cause. The 
adoption is " according to the good pleasure of his will;" and the 
gospel is made known as "the mystery of his will, according to 
his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself." He 
describes the whole dispensation of God's government, as designed 
"to the praise of his glory." He represents the plan of salva- 
tion, as one element in a scheme, in conformity with which the 
divine government in all its details is dispensed. God "worketh 
all things after the counsel of his own will." He speaks of "the 
dispensation of the fulness of times," — the providential adminis- 
tration, — as the development of this original plan. Not only so, 
but the date of the whole design and plan is given, — " before the 
foundation of the world." Equally clear is the testimony of God, 
by Isaiah: — "I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and 
there is none like me ; declaring the end from the beginning, 
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, 
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." — Isa. 
xlvi. 9, 10. 

Designed, as was the plan, to reveal the perfections of God 
to creatures of limited capacities, the scheme was adapted to the 
purpose, by providing a system of gradually unfolding parts. 
He who could, in an instant, have finished his whole work, con- 
descends to carry it forward step by step, in a process which 
at first presents the simplest truths, and from them proceeds to 



88 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ii. 

those which, are more profound. Thus, whilst no creature is 
ever able to exhaust or fully comprehend even the elementary 
principles, yet is any intelligent creature enabled to learn enough 
to constitute a fountain of eternal admiration, joy and hap- 
piness. 

Here, it is not to be imagined that the Creator acted indeed 
upon a plan comprehending the larger masses and the leading 
„ , , . , , events, but did not descend to the insignificant de- 

§4. It includes ' ? 

the minutest tails, nor form a scheme of the little things. Every 
things. argument which proves any plan at all, demon- 

strates that plan to have comprehended the minutest de- 
tails. The small dust of the balance is itself a distinct crea- 
tion of God. It is endowed with certain properties, attractions, 
and impressibilities, adapting it to perform a specific part, and 
that, essential to the development and support of the larger 
features of the design. It follows, that, in giving it this precise 
constitution, the Creator designed it to accomplish these very 
purposes ; or else that he made it so without a specific design, and 
the result is happy accident ! The effects flowing from these 
little things have been, from the beginning, propagated until 
now ; and will be till the end of time. This capacity to propa- 
gate influences, manifestly constitutes them means to the great 
end, — the display of God's glory ; and involves the conclusion that 
to this end they were created. In short, the infinite One, in 
giving each atom existence, declares himself to have some end 
in view, worthy of God, and to which that atom is competent. 
Thus formed by his wisdom, and designed for his purposes, it 
cannot be beneath, or fail to enjoy, his constant care. In fact, 
the pretence that the atom or the insect is too insignificant to 
glorify its Creator, is alike unphilosophical and impious. Who 
can but realize emotions of adoring wonder, as he sees the tint? 
which adorn the flowers of the field, painted by the same hand 
which gave the sun his splendour and the moon her majesty? 
What admiration fills the heart, which, having looked upon the 
heavens, the work of his finger, the moon and the stars which 
he has ordained, until oppressed with awe at the grandeur of 
the scene, finds the handiwork of the same glorious Being, in the 



sect, in.] The Eternal Plan. 89 

tracery of inimitable beauty which the microscope reveals on 
the wing of the fly, or in the countless animalcules which people 
the leaf or swarm in the pool ! What grandeur is imparted to 
our conceptions of the infinite One, as we learn that He who is 
not exalted by the creation of worlds, is not abased by painting 
the wing of the tiny insect, by dyeing and arranging the 
feathers of the butterfly, and shaping and adapting the organs 
of the worm! 

If we pass from the natural to the moral universe, the ques- 
tion occurs, Where shall we find a really trivial event? A 
dewdrop falls on the surface of the placid stream, and subsides 
into the mass of waters; its fall unregarded, its existence un- 
known. Yet has it changed the level of the entire stream, and 
altered the relations of every particle in its channel. A cannon- 
ball drops from the deck of the gallant ship, and with sullen 
plunge seeks a bed among the sands beneath. But, as it sinks 
to rest, it has moved the vast ocean in its most obscure retreats. 
On the surface where it fell, a little circular wave is formed, 
which widens and expands, till it dies on the farthest shore. 
Could we follow its pathway, we should see its tide mingle with 
the storm-surge to sweep the seaman from the deck of the foun- 
dering bark, and murmur the requiem over his coral tomb ; — 
we should see it combine with the waves that lash the cliffs of 
England, and swell the tide that pours along the shores of Asia; 
and the influences, originated by that casual wave, will be pro- 
pagated to the end of time. So it is in the moral universe. 
No event is trivial, as it constitutes a link in the tremendous 
whole. Each little wave combines with the rest; — its living 
voice will be heard amid the throes of dissolving nature; and 
its waters will swell the tide which shall flow on the boundless 
shores of eternity. The caprices of an idiot, or the sportive 
follies of a child, may occupy such a place in the plan of God, 
as to control the destinies of nations, and enstamp their influence 
on the triumphant songs of heaven. 

As to the particular features of the eternal plan, we have two 
sources of information, — the book of nature and providence, 
and the Scriptures. In the former, from beholding what God 



90 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. ii. 

lias done, we learn what ; from the beginning, he purposed to 
do. In his word, many of the mysteries of the plan, which 
nature could not have discovered, are unveiled; and the won- 
drous wisdom and glorious results of the whole are set forth. 
Here, the entire scheme concentrates its interest, and takes its 
form, from an eternal covenant, in which the Persons of the 
Godhead concurred together, in an ineffable harmony and unity, 
for the revelation of their glory, in the redemption of man. Of 
this covenant we shall see more hereafter. From it the whole 
system of the universe took its form. To its fulfilment the 
entire order of providence tends. In its execution, the Son of 
God becomes man; and in the final result, the children of cor- 
ruption and dust become the princes of heaven, — co-regents 
with the eternal Son, in that kingdom which shall be for ever 
and ever ; and co-heirs in his blessedness and in the riches and 
love of God, — shedding abroad, in all God's dominions, a know- 
ledge of the glorious and invisible One, such as will forever fill 
heaven with adoring anthems of praise. 

The first step in the fulfilment of this plan, was the creation of 
the angelic hosts, and of the material universe. The ministering 
3 5. The an- intelligences of heaven would seem to have been first 
gels and the called into being ; exalted, happy and adoring wit- 
umverse. nesses of all the rest. This appears to be implied in 

the language of God to Job : — " Where wast thou when I laid 
the foundations of the earth ? Whereupon are the foundations 
thereof fastened ? or who laid the corner-stone thereof, when the 
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for 
joy?" — Job xxxviii. 4, 6, 7. Why those songs of harmony ? Why 
that exulting joy to which those bright spirits thus gave utter- 
ance ? They beheld spread before them, in the volume of crea- 
tion, a revelation of the immensity and glory the power and 
Godhead of Him in whom they have their being. As they behold 
the unfolding of a perfect plan, which comprehends in harmonious 
relations innumerable parts, they recognise the evidence of the 
unity and wisdom of God. His goodness shines before them in 
the happiness of the creatures to which every thing tends. And 
when they observe the vastness of some parts, the minuteness of 



sect, iv.] The Eternal Plan. 91 

others, and the completeness of the whole, they are overwhelmed 
with the immensity, and the inexhaustible power and resources, 
of the Creator. How august the spectacle! — how magnificent 
the revelation thus unfolded to their wondering gaze ! Even to 
our faint vision and feeble powers, what a scene does the creation 
display ! what a story does it tell, of the matchless perfections 
of the Creator ! Whilst the heavens proclaim his glory, and the 
vast systems of the universe declare his power and Grodhead, the 
least and lowliest thing which his hand has made points its tiny 
finger aloft, and concurs with the rest to direct our thoughts in 
adoration to (rod its Maker. 

" There's not a tint that paints the rose, 

Or decks the lily fair, 
Or marks the humblest flower that blows, 

But God has placed it there. 
There's not of grass a single blade, 

Or leaf of loveliest green, 
Where heavenly skill is not displayed, 

And heavenly vrisdom seen." — Heber. 

To the instructed ear the universe is full of voices, telling 
each its own story, of the power, the wisdom and the goodness 
of Him by whom are all things. To the intelligent heart, which 
is attuned to such harmonies, nature is one grand instrument of 
many chords, which pours continually forth sublimest anthems 
burdened with his praise. From the shrill soprano of the insect's 
evening hum, and the soft chorals of the twittering swallow or 
the soaring lark, to the deep thunder's reverberating peal, the 
sighing murmur which forever breathes from the heaving 
bosom of the ocean, and the mighty bass of the earthquake's 
labouring moan, — every sound which greets the ear is another 
note in the harmonious measures of adoring song. And when, 
amid the descending shadows of evening, the voices of nature 
are hushed, and the tranquil stillness invites to contemplation 
or repose, even Silence herself takes up the strain, and the 
starry hosts unite in the general chorus of unending praise. 

"What a pageant of grandeur and beauty do the heavens reveal, 
as earth sinks to rest beneath the curtains of night ! " Lift up 



92 The Elohhn Revealed. [chap. ii. 

your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, 
that bringeth out their host by number : He calleth them all 
by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in 
power; not one faileth." — Isa. xl. 26. Behold them coming 
forth from the chambers of Grod, and in silent grandeur, a count- 
less host, pursuing their mighty march across the firmament. 
So far from us is the nearest sentinel that twinkles there, that 
the ray of light which meets our vision, although speeding a 
flight of twelve millions of miles a minute, has worn out nearly 
ten years in winning its way to earth ; and the multitudes of 
silvery beams which are barely perceptible to the naked eye, 
have travelled an hundred and twenty years to pass the vast 
expanse which lies between. Yet, scattered, as they probably 
are, as far from each other as from us, such is their multitude, 
that the astronomer, with his telescope directed immovably to a 
single point, has seen one hundred and sixteen thousand stars 
pass over his field of vision in a quarter of an hour. What, then, 
must be the extent of the vast cluster which is spread before us ; 
and what the multitudes of stars of which it consists ! Each 
one of them is a sister sun to that which sheds its daily radiance 
on our earth ; and as that is surrounded by its retinue of planets 
and satellites and cometary legions, so probably are they all. 
As you contemplate these things, struggling to form some con- 
ception of the vast expanse, across whose diameter a ray of light 
toils on for two thousand years, before it gains the other bound, 
do you imagine that you have caught a glimpse of the extent of 
the creation and dominions of God ? Listen to the testimony of 
Job : — " By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens ; his hand 
hath formed the crooked serpent (the milky way?). Lo ! these 
are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him!" 
— Job xxvi. 13, 14. By the help of the telescope, look forth 
beyond those myriad stars which constitute this our universe, 
so incomprehensibly vast, and you will learn that these all are 
but one little group, — an islet in the ocean of immensity, which 
Jehovah has stretched out. Away upon that vast sea are strewed, 
here and there, as stars are scattered in our heavens, multitudes 
of other clusters, such as this ; each one, in its millions of suns, 



sect, v.] The Eternal Plan. 93 

a separate universe, divided from each other and from the hosts 
of our heavens, by an immensity, from whose breadth recoiling 
imagination reels back upon its own nothingness. The astrono- 
mer, confident in the result of the severest mathematical deduc- 
tions, assures us that the ray of light which falls upon his glass, 
has been a million of ages flashing its trackless way, since it left 
those luminaries, of whose existence it is the herald. And yet, 
even here, we find no bound. Still, as new skill gives new power 
to the telescope, and enables our vision to plunge deeper and 
deeper into that widening immensity, we discover, in the farthest 
distance, the dim signals of yet other clustered myriads, coming 
up to view. Still, — as the instrument sweeps the concave, to 
the north, and the south, the east, and the west, above, below, 
and all around, — still must we exclaim, with Job, "Lo! these 
are parts of his ways ; but how little a portion is heard of him!" 
and we fall back upon the conclusion, that the works of God are 
an illimitable abyss, — an ocean without bottom or bound. As 
we gaze upon this wondrous scene, — this heaven, each constel- 
lation of which is a universe, a heaven of its own, — we behold a 
new and transcendently glorious interpretation of the apostrophe 
of Solomon : — " Behold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens, can- 
not contain thee!" — 2 Chron. vi. 18. 

Stooping from such contemplations as these, we see at our 
feet the handiwork of the same glorious Being who made them 
all, in the tints that adorn the blushing rose, and the plumage 
of the insect that floats in the sunbeam. ISTor are these little 
things less worthy of his creative skill and watchful care, than 
those orbs and systems of order and light. For all are alike 
unworthy to compare with his majesty. His creative energy is 
not wearied by the vastness of those ; nor is he fatigued by the 
minuteness of detail which, with them, embraces in a glance all 
the littleness and variety of these. All that we thus contem- 
plate, — the earth, with its inhabitants, the little and the great, — 
the sun, with its encircling train, — the radiant throng of the 
milky way, — the teeming clusters, of which we catch a glimpse 
in the far-off boundless expanse, — all, all are the unlaboured 
creations of the One Infinite. Without an exertion they exist ; 



94 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ii. 

born of the tranquil energy of his will. u He spake, and it 
was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." — Ps. xxxiii. 9. 
Yet, whilst thus immensity teems with the creations of his 
power, the revelations of his glory, he, the Creator, dwells 
alone ; unexhausted, uncommunicated, unapproached and unap- 
proachable. Present always and everywhere, but hidden in his 
very infinitude, he remains the uncomprehended God ; and, with 
Job, the loftiest of the witnessing seraphim may exclaim, 
" Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but 
I cannot perceive him ; on the left hand, where he doth work, 
but I cannot behold him : he hideth himself on the right hand, 
that I cannot see him." — Job xxiii. 8, 9. 

"In its sublime research, philosophy 
May measure out the ocean deep, — may count 
The sands, or the sun's rays ; but, God ! for thee 
There is no weight nor measure ; none can mount 
Up to thy mysteries. Reason's brightest spark, 
Though kindled by thy light, in vain -would try 
To trace thy counsels infinite and dark ; 
And thought is lost, ere thought can soar so high ; 
Even like past moments in eternity." — Derzhavin. 

Thus glorious is the knowledge of God, which shines on tho 
very face of the material system. Yet falls it utterly short of 
1 6. The moral the revelation, for which the eternal plan provided. 
revelation. The voices, in which the heavens and all nature tell 
the glory of the Creator, speak only of the eternal power and 
Godhead of the one infinite Spirit. In the further chapters of 
the plan, provision is made for revealing God, the triune, the 
holy, the just and true, the God of compassion, mercy and 
love; — for shedding forth the higher mysteries of the moral 
nature of that majestic One whom heaven, even the heaven of 
heavens, cannot contain. 

Of this moral revelation, the first element consists of the 
holy law. This, transcribed from the perfections of God's 
moral nature, constitutes an exhibition of them, as well as a 
rule by which the moral intelligences may live in the likeness 
of God. This law was first made known to the angelic hosts, 



sect, v.] The Eternal Plan. 95 

by inscription on their hearts at their creation ; as the first 
chapter in the knowledge of God, and the rule for their gui- 
dance. But in this volume it will be discussed, as given to 
man and illustrated in his history. It constitutes a funda- 
mental and perpetual element of the entire revelation, for which 
the plan provided. That plan is carried on to completion in 
the whole providential administration of God; especially as 
exercised towards Adam and his race, and the second Adam and 
his seed. 

Here, the peculiar character of the stage selected for this 
greatest display of the perfections of the Most High, this con- 
summate revelation of the inmost nature of God, is worthy of 
distinct notice. Had a council of the cherubim been called, and 
the question proposed to them, — What part of the universe will 
be the most suitable platform on which to display the highest 
glories of God? — they doubtless would have selected some 
mighty sun, some central luminary, around which a vast uni- 
verse revolves. They would have sought among the high 
places of the creation for a suitable stage on which to exhibit 
the high themes of moral grandeur and grace, on which the 
intelligent universe was about to gaze, in wondering admiration 
and eternal joy and praise. But such was not the wisdom of 
God. Indifferent to all greatness of material dimension, he se- 
lected, as the throne of his moral glory and the inner place of 
his eternal worship, the earth, — one of the smaller planets that 
attend upon the sun ; which is itself a satellite sweeping through 
the fields of space around some far-off greater centre of our 
material system. Thus has the glorious Creator proclaimed, in 
the most unambiguous terms, that, although he condescends 
to reveal the immensity of his power and illimitable resources 
to the narrow conceptions of creatures, by material dimensions 
in his works which must amaze and overwhelm the capacities 
of all finite intelligences, yet are they all at last utter nothings 
to him. Our globe is as great, in comparison with his infini- 
tude, as the mightiest sun or grandest system which the uni- 
verse contains ; and our earth-born race, as the countless throng 
of mighty seraphim. All are but nothing before him. 



96 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ii. 

For the revelation of the moral perfections of God ; this earth 
was designated, and man ordained. And because of this their 
, "„ , , destined office, the Wisdom of God, from everlast- 

§ 7. Earth the m . ; ; 

theatre o/ the ing, rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, 
revelation. an( J delighted in the sons of men. Of the council 

of the Triune God, at which man's creation was decreed, we 
have an authentic record: — "Let us make man in our image, 
after our likeness; and let them have dominion." Thus was 
man set apart to be, in the presence of the hosts of earth and 
heaven, an image and likeness of his Triune Creator. There- 
fore was he clothed in knowledge, righteousness and holiness ; 
therefore endowed with a nature, in which the parental and 
filial relations shadow faintly forth the ineffable relations of the 
eternal Father and his coeternal Son; and in which the vital 
breath that flows from his lungs is a like distant image of the 
mysterious relation to them of the Holy Spirit. For the same 
reason was he crowned with a dominion, the first sphere of 
which was this low earth and the animal creation ; and the final 
extent of which will be the whole universe of God, — a dominion 
first possessed by Adam, in Eden, and by his sons according to 
the flesh; but at length, and forever, enjoyed by the second 
Adam and his sons, in the restored paradise of God. "Unto the 
angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof 
we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is 
man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that 
thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the 
angels ; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst 
set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things 
in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjec- 
tion under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But 
now we see not yet all things put under him ; but we see Jesus, 
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of 
death, crowned with glory and honour." — Heb. ii. 5-9. The fact 
that the dominion, which was bestowed on man in his creation, 
finds its consummation in the exaltation of the Son of man, on 
whose head are many crowns, and to whom angels and princi- 
palities and powers are subject, is conclusive proof, that man 



sect, vil] The Eternal Plan. 97 

in his creation was designed to be the image of God, not to the 
creatures of earth merely, but to the whole universe of God; 
and every feature of his nature, and every aspect of his position, 
is to be contemplated in the light of this fact, in order to be 
rightly understood. Indeed, what Paul says of the great mys- 
tery of godliness, "God manifested in the flesh, seen of angels," 
although it has immediate respect to the person and work of the 
man Christ Jesus in the days of his flesh, may well be under- 
stood in a much wider sense. That mystery began to unfold 
itself as a revelation, in the person of Adam, who was made in 
the image and likeness of God. It shines forth with an un- 
speakable lustre, in the second Adam, at once the Son of man, 
and the Son of God, the brightness of the Father's glory and 
express image of his person. Still further does the revelation 
expand, and the glory increase, in the generation and growth 
of that mystical body, which consists of Christ, the Head, and 
the church, "the fulness of him that filleth all in all," the 
body; each member of which is renewed in the likeness of 
Christ in the image of the Father, and pervaded with the Spirit 
of Christ and of God. Each one is thus constituted a star, to 
shine in the light of the one glorious Sun; thus shedding forth, 
and disseminating to every creature, the unutterable wonders 
of the glory and grace of God; and "the whole body fitly joined 
together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, 
according to the effectual working in the measure of every part," 
(Eph. iv. 16,) is the blessed and beloved bride, the Lamb's wife, 
in whose beauties Jehovah delights, and whose espousals con- 
stitute the climax of the whole display of wisdom and power, 
holiness and love, — the completed revelation of a glorious God. 
The eternal plan, which thus concentrates its light in man, 
and pours it abroad through the medium of his person and his- 
a 3 The reve- ^' 0T y> ^ s a ^ once progressive in its course, and cumu- 
lation is pro- lative in its revelations. Like some vast cathedral 
greinve and whose numerous parts, — its buttresses and columns, 
its windows and arches, porticos, towers and spires, 
— as by degrees they are reared, reveal each a symmetry and 
beauty of its own ; and which, as they grow to completion, gra- 

7 



98 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ii. 

dually discover the unity of all in one design, and all contribute 
to its majestic beauty, — so is it here. In the administration of 
the plan, whilst each new development transcends all which have 
gone before, it does not supersede, but comprehends them. The 
revealing office of Adam is not annulled, as a failure through 
the fall, by the entrance of Christ; nor does the covenant of 
grace abrogate that which was made with Adam in his creation. 
But the creation, the law, Adam and his race, and God's deal- 
ings with him, and with them in him, and Christ and his people, 
and God's dealings with them, individually and as a body, — 
these are the elements of the revelation; each one fulfilling its 
several office, and all combining their light in the person and 
work of the Son of God. Thus is he the Alpha and Omega, 
" Christ all and in all," to whom all creation points; by whom 
the Father is made known ; and in whom, thus, the design of the 
whole work of creation and providence is consummate and dis- 
covered, for the adoration of the universe and the infinite bless- 
edness of man. 

We have seen the grand object which was contemplated in 
the eternal plan to have been the revelation of God ; and that 
those enumerated were the instrumentalities which were devised 
and ordained to that end. In fact, beside these, God has given 
no other. It follows, that no true science of theology is attain- 
able, except in the study of the book thus spread open before us, 
in the order in which it is given, and in the light of the fact that 
such was its design. He who fails to recognise and appreciate 
the intention of the whole system as one vast revelation, of which 
each several being and event utters its own particular testimony 
— a testimony to which it was specifically ordained, — must, of 
necessity, fail of a full apprehension of the things revealed. 

Whilst the great end had in view was the revelation of God, 
the grand instrumentality employed is the salvation of man. 
The first chapters of the narrative discover Adam self-destroyed, 
apostate and accursed, helpless and hopeless, awaiting the de- 
scending stroke of wrath. But light from heaven shines on his 
ruin, and the wisdom and love of God undertake his rescue. A 
scene radiant in the light of all matchless perfections, shines 



sect, vii.] The Eternal Plan. 99 

before us as we read the pages of God's redeeming grace. And 
when the mystery of God is finished, and the revelation com- 
plete, the last chapters exhibit the children of Adam become 
sons of God, and the heirs of the curse become possessors of 
heaven and princes there, arrayed in the glory of God's perfect 
likeness, and blessed forever in his loving smile. If all the sons 
of God shouted for joy when they caught the first glimpse of his 
glory as it shone in the creation, with what shoutings will the 
topstone be brought home ! How will heaven resound with the 
anthem of praise ! — " Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, 
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, 
for ever and ever." 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PROVIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION. 

The plan which was formed in the councils of eternity, ia 
accomplished, in time, by the administration of the providential 
a 1 Different g overnmen t- This government is conducted in a 
theories of se- twofold agency ; partly through the instrument- 
cond causes. ality f na tural laws and second causes, and partly 
by the immediate hand of God. In respect to second causes, 
several different theories have obtained more or less currency. 
Some deny them any efficiency whatever, and make the laws 
of nature to be nothing but the uniform modes of divine 
operation; so that God is not only the first but the only 
cause. The opposite extreme is held by others, who look 
upon the universe as a machine, from the natural operation 
of which all things take place, without the interposition of the 
Creator, who continues forever an inactive spectator of the fated 
process. According to another opinion, the powers of nature 
are ordinarily left to their own operation ; but on special occa- 
sions the Creator interposes, as in miracles. A fourth, and the 
scriptural doctrine, is, that whilst the creatures are endowed 
with a real efficiency and true causation, they are at the same 
time under the constant and universal control of God ; — that he, 
"the Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose and 
govern all creatures, actions and things, from the greatest even 
to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to 
his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel 
of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, 
justice, goodness and mercy."* 

Substances and their phenomena constitute the whole sum of 

* Westminster Confession, chap. v. \ 1. 
100 



sect, i.j The Providential Administration. 101 

tilings that are. A substance is an existence which, is invested 
32. True doc- with certain properties or forces. In other words, 
trine of second it is an efficient cause, of which the phenomena 
causes. which attach to it are the effects. The word, sub- 

stance, designates the being or existence of which those forces 
are predicated ; and, cause, the forces in exercise, — the substance 
in action. The possession of forces is essential to the very 
existence of a substance ; and they are thus essential, not as sus- 
taining an outside relation to it; but they reside in the very 
substance itself, as elements without which its existence is not 
conceivable. The forces thus residing in substances are derived 
originally from God, sustained each instant by his power, and 
controlled by his sovereign will. Yet have they a real existence, 
which is distinct from the omnipotence of God; and an ac- 
tivity which is their own, and not the agency of the Creator. 
These forces give to each several substance its peculiar cha- 
racter, and constitute each a machine, so to speak, — a motive 
power, adapted to perform given functions, to occupy a specific 
place and hold specific relations to others. This remark holds 
good alike in regard to animate and inanimate nature, the 
minute and the great. An atom is endowed with gravitation as 
certainly as the earth or the sun. It is also characterized by 
other affinities or attractions, with kindred repulsions; the 
effect of which is, that it refuses to combine with certain sub- 
stances, and in certain relations, and, on the contrary, seeks 
combination in different relations, and with other bodies. The 
elements constituting a mass of fuel, which at an ordinary 
temperature adhere with the tenacity of hickory or the hardness 
of anthracite, when subjected to the influence of heat, so repel 
each other as to dissolve the entire mass. Thus are all material 
substances composed of particles, held together by mutual at- 
tractions, resulting in every variety of texture and every degree 
of solidity, from the rarity of the gases to the density of gold. 
An example of the fact of which we speak occurs in the 
assimilation of food. An ox feeds on grass or corn. The mass 
of food is thrown into the stomach, and that living machine, 
with its auxiliary organs, rejecting what is unsuitable,, separates 



102 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

the rest, and re-combines it in the necessary forms, conveying, 
as may be necessary, the requisite elements, and elaborating 
them into horns to arm the head, or hoofs to protect the feet. 
To other parts, as required, are borne the elements of bone, and 
combined in the ivory texture of. the teeth, or the porous and 
yielding structure of the ribs. Nutriment is thus ministered 
to every part, and elaborated into flesh and sinew, horn and 
hair, or scales; constituting in some animals a covering firm 
as steel, in others, soft as silk. It thus appears that the animal 
organization exerts a force to lay hold of the food when deposited 
in the stomach, and apply the requisite elements to the nutrition 
of the body ; and that the elementary atoms have natures sus- 
ceptible to the influences thus exerted, and endowed with 
attractions to hold them in proper combination in the animal 
frame. 

Illustrations to the same effect might be multiplied without 
limit. What has been presented is sufficient to justify the 
statement already made, — that each material substance is a 
motive power, endowed with a capacity of putting forth and 
propagating influences and forces upon others; and, in like 
manner, susceptible to influences propagated from them. The 
only knowledge we can have of any substance is in the form of 
a list of the attributes of efficiency possessed by it. Let the 
reader test this suggestion upon any substance, — a book, for 
example. It has length, breadth and thickness, — that is, it 
exerts resistance to pressure in three directions ; it throws off 
the coloured rays of light in a manner which makes a specific 
impression on the organs of vision, which we express by saying 
that it is visible and of a given colour ; it tends towards the 
earth by a mutual attraction, which we indicate by ascribing 
to it weight. Thus, we would know absolutely nothing of the 
existence of any substance but for the forces it develops, the. 
influences it exerts, the effects it produces; and, of the sub- 
stances which are thus discovered to us, our acquaintance is 
strictly limited to a knowledge of those attributes of efficiency 
which constitute them causes, — that is to say, — sources of pro- 
pagated effects. 



cona causes. 



sect, ii.] The Providential Administration. 103 

The theory of Edwards, on the subject of second causes, con- 
stitutes a most important and controlling feature in his system 
I 3. Edwards' of doctrine. He denies the creatures to be endowed 
of se- -with any properly causative forces; and attributes 
all effects to God, as the immediate and only cause. 
This theory is fully stated in his treatise on Original Sin. An 
English writer, in the controversy with Taylor of Norwich, had 
spoken of human depravity as a natural consequence and effect 
of Adam's first sin. Upon this, Taylor says, " Here B. E. sup- 
poses the course of nature to be a proper active cause, which will 
work and go on by itself without God, if he lets or permits it; 
whereas the course of nature, separate from the agency of God, 
is no cause, or nothing. If he shall say, ' But God first sets it 
to work, and then it goes on by itself,' I answer, — that the course 
of nature should continue itself, or go on to operate by itself, 
any more than at first produce itself, is absolutely impossible. 
But suppose it goes on by itself, can it stop itself? Can it work 
any otherwise than it doth? Can the course of nature cease to 
generate? Or can it produce a holy instead of a sinful nature, 
if it pleases? No advocate of original sin will affirm this. 
Therefore, if it is a cause, it is a passive cause, which cannot 
stop, or avoid producing its effects. And if God sets it to work, 
and it cannot cease working, nor avoid producing its effects till 
God stops it, then all its effects in a moral account however 
must be assigned to him who first set it to work. And so our 
sinfulness will be chargeable upon God."* 

The position thus asserted by Taylor, — that God is the only 
cause, — Edwards adopts and vindicates with great zeal. Ee- 
specting the propagation of depravity, he says, " 'Tis true that 
God by his own almighty power creates the soul of the infant ; 
and 'tis also true, as Dr. Taylor often insists, that God, by his 
immediate power, forms and fashions the body of the infant in 
the womb ; yet he does both according to that course of nature 
which he has been pleased to establish. The course of nature is 
demonstrated, by late improvements in philosophy, to be indeed 
what our author himself says it is, viz., nothing but the esta- 

* Taylor on Original Sin, suppl. sec. vii. 



104 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

Wished order and operation of the Author of nature.* And 
though there be the immediate agency of God in bringing the 
soul into existence in generation, yet it is done according to the 
method and order established by the Author of nature, as much 
as his producing the bud or the acorn of the oak. . . . 'Tis 
as much agreeable to an established course and order of nature, 
that since Adam, the head of the race of mankind, the root of that 
great tree with many branches springing from it, was deprived 
of original righteousness, the branches should come forth with- 
out it. Or, if any dislike the word nature as used in this last 
case, and instead of it choose to call it a constitution or esta- 
blished order of successive events, the alteration of the name 
won't in the least alter the state of the present argument. 
Where the name nature is allowed without dispute, no more is 
meant than that established method and order of events, settled 
and limited by divine wisdom." Again he says, "If here it 
should be said that God is not the author of sin in giving men 
up to sin, who have already made themselves sinful; because, 
when men have once made themselves sinful, their continuing 
so, and sin's prevailing in them, and becoming more and more 
habitual, will follow in a course of nature: I answer, let that be 
remembered, which this writer so greatly urges, in opposition to 
them that suppose original corruption comes in a course of na- 
ture, viz., 'that the course of nature is nothing without God.' 
He utterly rejects the notion of the course of nature's being a 
proper active cause, which will work and go on by itself, without 
God, if he lets or permits it ; but affirms that the course of nature 
separate from the agency of God is no cause, or nothing ; and that 
the course of nature should continue itself, or go on to operate by 



* "Late improvements in philosophy." Says a historian of modern philo- 
sophy, "The tendency of Cartesianism from the very first was to place in 
undue prominence the idea of the infinite or absolute, and to cast proportionally 
into the shade those of finite nature and finite self. Malebranche went so far 
as to deny secondary causes altogether, thus confining all real activity to the 
Supreme Being ; while Spinoza completely absorbed all finite existence in the 
infinite, and made every thing that is, but a part and a modification of the one 
unchangeable substance." — Mor ell's History of Modern Philosophy, p. 147. 



sect, in.] The Providential Administration. 105 

itself, any more than at first produce itself, is absolutely impos- 
sible."* Taylor's design, in these places which Edwards quotes, 
was to deny such a causative relation between parent and child 
as could convey corruption to the latter. The premises thus 
stated by Taylor, Edwards accepts ; and only avoids his conclu- 
sions, by taking the position, that God can, by a " constitution," 
make things to be true which in themselves are not true. 

The same view, in regard to creature causation, is essentially 
involved in Edwards' doctrine of identity. On this subject, he 
§ 4. Edwards' "undertakes to show that no real oneness is possible 
doctrine of in things which exist in different time and place. 
identity. rp^ moon ^ f or ex ample, which now is, has no iden- 

tity with that which existed one moment since, or with that 
which shall be the next instant, Each is a new and distinct 
creation, and identical in no sense, except that God has in sove- 
reignty determined them to be accounted one. The cause of the 
continued existence of every created substance must be one of 
these : " either the antecedent existence of the same substance, 
or else the power of the Creator. But it can't be the ante- 
cedent existence of the same substance. For instance, the 
existence of the body of the moon at this present moment can't 
be the effect of its existence at the last foregoing moment. For, 
not only was what existed the last moment no active cause, but 
wholly a passive thing; but this also is to be considered, — 
that no cause can produce effects in a time and place in which 
itself is not. 'Tis plain, nothing can exert itself or operate 
when and where it is not existing. But the moon's past 
existence was neither where nor when its present existence is. 
. . . Therefore the existence of created substances in each 
successive moment must be the effect of the immediate agency, 
will and power of God." He then supposes the objection that 
the established course of nature can continue existence when 
once given, and replies that the course of nature is nothing 
separate from God, and that, " as Dr. Taylor says, ' God, the 
original of all being, is the only cause of all natural effects.' A 
father, according to the course of nature, begets a child ; an oak, 

* Edwards on Original Sin, iv. 2. 



106 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

according to the course of nature, produces an acorn or a bud : 
so, according to the course of nature, the former existence of 
the trunk of the tree is followed by its new or present existence. 
In the one case and the other, the new effect is consequent on 
the former only by the established laws and settled course of 
nature, which is allowed to be nothing but the continued, imme- 
diate efficiency of God, according to a constitution that he has 
been pleased to establish. Therefore, as our author (Taylor) 
greatly urges, that the child and the acorn, which come into 
existence, according to the course of nature, in consequence of 
the prior existence and state of the parent and the oak, are 
truly immediately created or made by God; so must the 
existence of each created person and thing, at each moment of 
it, be from the immediate continued creation of God. It will 
certainly follow from these things that God's preserving created 
things in being is perfectly equivalent to a continued creation, 
or to his creating those things out of nothing at each moment 
of their existence." He therefore insists " that God's upholding 
created substance, or causing its existence in each successive 
moment, is altogether equivalent to an immediate production 

out of nothing at each moment God produces the effect 

as much from nothing as if there had been nothing before. So 
that this effect differs not at all from the first creation, but only 
circumstantially ; as in first creation there had been no such act 
and effect of God's power before ; whereas his giving existence 
afterwards, follows preceding acts and effects of the same kind 
in an established order.' Now, in the next place, let us see how 
the consequence of these things is to my present purpose. If 
the existence of created substance in each successive moment be 
wholly the effect of God's immediate power in that moment, 
without any dependence on prior existence, as much as the first 
creation out of nothing, then, what exists at this moment by 
this power, is a new effect; and, simply and absolutely con- 
sidered, not the same with any past existence, though it be like 
it, and follows it according to a certain established method. 
And there is no identity or oneness in the case, but what 
depends on the arbitrary constitution of the Creator, who, by his 



sect, iv.] The Providential Administration. 107 

wise sovereign establishment, so unites these successive new 
effects, that he treats them as one, by communicating to them 
like properties, relations and circumstances, and so leads us to 
regard and treat them as one. When I call this an arbitrary 
constitution, I mean, that it is a constitution which depends on 
nothing but the divine will; which divine will depends on 
nothing but the divine wisdom. In this sense, the whole course 
of nature, with all that belongs to it, all its laws, and methods, 
and constancy, and regularity, continuance and proceeding, is 
an arbitrary constitution. For it don't at all necessarily follow, 
that because there was sound, or light, or colour, or resistance, 
or gravity, or thought, or consciousness, or any other dependent 
thing, the last moment, that therefore there shall be the like at 
the next. All dependent existence whatsoever is in a constant 
flux; ever passing and returning; renewed every moment, as 
the colours of bodies are every moment renewed by the light 
that shines upon them ; and all is constantly proceeding from 
God, as light from the sun. • In him we live, and move, and 
have our being.' Thus it appears, if we consider matters 
strictly, there is no such thing as any identity or oneness in 
created objects, existing at different times, but what depends on 
God's sovereign constitution. And so it appears, that objection 
we are upon, made against a supposed divine constitution, 
whereby Adam and his posterity are viewed and treated as one, 
in the manner and for the purposes supposed, as if it were not 
consistent with truth, because no constitution can make those to 
be one which are not one, — I say, it appears that this objection 
is built on a false hypothesis ; for it appears that a divine con- 
stitution is the thing which makes truth, in affairs of this 
nature."* To render his meaning still more clear and explicit, he 
illustrates it in a marginal note. The rays of the sun falling 
on the moon, and reflected from it, are none of them the same 
for two consecutive moments. " Therefore the brightness or 
lucid whiteness of this body is no more, numerically, the same 
thing with that which existed in the preceding moment, than 
the sound of the wind that blows now is individually the same 

* Ibid, part iv. ch. 3. 



108 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. in. 

with the sound of the wind that blew just before. . . . And 
if it be thus with the brightness or colour of the moon, so it 
must be with its solidity, and every thing else belonging to its 
substance, if all be ; each moment, as much the immediate effect 
of a new exertion or application of power. The matter may 
perhaps be, in some respects, still more clearly illustrated by 
this : — the images of things in a glass. . . . The image, con- 
stantly renewed by new, successive rays, is no more, numeri- 
cally; the same, than if it were by some artist put on anew with 
a pencil, and the colours constantly vanishing as fast as put 
on. . . . And, truly, so the matter must be with the bodies 
themselves, as well as their images. They also cannot be the 
same, with an absolute identity, but must be wholly renewed 
every moment, if the case be, as has been proved, that their 
present existence is not, strictly speaking, at all the effect of 
their past existence, but is wholly, every instant, the effect of a 
new agency or exertion of the power of the cause of their exist- 
ence. If so, the existence caused is every instant a new effect, 
whether the cause be light, or immediate divine power, or what- 
ever it be." 

JSTow, if all this be true, — if the creature that now is, instantly 
vanishes, to give place to another equally evanescent, — it is evi- 
dent that there is no room for the exertion of any force by the 
substance thus so transient. It and all cotemporaneous sub- 
stances are annihilated at the same instant, and give place to 
others, which, as they are immediate productions of creative 
power, must receive all their primary impressions, and realize 
their first impulses, from the creative energy. And these alone 
they ever feel ; for with the first instant of existence — they are 
gone, and others fill their place. The position is formally stated, 
as unquestionable and fundamental, " that no cause can produce 
effects in a time and place in which itself is not." " Nothing 
can exert itself or operate when and where it is not existing;" 
an axiom which, in whatever sense true, is certainly false in 
that intended; since it is here expressly designed to separate all 
present created existences and their phenomena from any effi- 
cient relation whatever, either to their antecedents or succes- 



sect, iv.] The Providential Administration. 109 

sors. In fact, the axiom, as here employed, is contradictory to 
any conceivable exercise of power by a creature. The very idea 
of power in exercise is that of an energy put forth of the sub- 
stance from which it springs, and perpetuated after the cessa- 
tion of the impulse in which it originated. 

The conclusion to which the whole argument of Edwards is 
directed, renders his meaning yet more unquestionable. He is 
combating the objection, that the imputation of Adam's sin goes 
upon the false supposition that he and we are one. He replies, 
that " the objection supposes there is a oneness in created beings, 
whence qualities and relations are derived down from past exist- 
ence, distinct from, and prior to, any oneness that can be sup- 
posed to be founded on divine constitution ; which is demonstrably 
false; and therefore the objection wholly falls to the ground." 
That is, since a given existence, — a man or a tree, — " simply and 
absolutely considered, is not the same with any past existence, 
though it be like it, and follows it according to a certain esta- 
blished method," and its identity through successive moments of 
time is constituted by the mere sovereign establishment of God, 
— it follows, that the same authority can decree us to be one 
with Adam ; and such decree shall constitute this the truth, and 
make us really one with him. 

Here it is necessary to notice distinctly the peculiar sense in 
which the word, constitution, is employed by Edwards and his 
disciples. By it he does not mean, as might be supposed, a 
system of fundamental principles, adopted by the Creator at the 
beginning, in accordance with which to make and endow the 
creatures ; but an act of executive sovereignty, in the order of 
nature subsequent to creation, and in which he is supposed, by 
decree, to constitute or determine the creatures to be something 
else than essentially and creatively they were. Thus, the colour 
of the moon, its solidity, and every thing else belonging to its 
substance is at each moment a new and immediate effect of 
creative power, and " differs not at all from the first creation, 
but only circumstantially ; as in first creation there had been no 
such act and effect of God's power before ; whereas, his giving 
existence afterwards follows preceding acts and effects of the 



110 The Elohim Revealed, [chap. hi. 

same kind in an established order." By a sovereign act of 
God, these things, thus created different and distinct, are decreed 
to be one. This decree is what Edwards calls, a constitution; 
and is, he says, " the thing which makes truth in affairs of this 
sort." 

No doubt, many expressions may be found in the writings of 
Edwards, which are entirely inconsistent with the theory here 
exhibited, — a theory irreconcilable with doctrines which he held 
with an unwavering faith. Inconsistency is the characteristic 
of error. And we are persuaded that a careful examination of 
his works must convince any candid mind, that the opinions set 
forth in the above quotations were characteristic of his entire 
philosophy, and very influential in modifying his theological 
system. 

The scheme has an air of piety, by which Edwards was be- 
trayed. It seems to honour God, by making things dependent 
3 5. TMs doc- 0n n i m i n the mos t absolute and intimate manner. 
trine unscrip. It, in reality, dishonours him, denying his power, 
turai. Yds truth and his holiness. It limits his power, by 

assuming that he cannot create a substance endowed with true 
perpetuated forces. So that the doctrine is irreconcilable with 
the real existence of creation at all. u In the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth." What is meant by this 
statement? It attests the creation, "in the beginning," of the 
heavens and earth which now are. It asserts the production of 
substances, of given form, and other specific attributes. These 
attributes are forces, which we intuitively attribute to the sub- 
stances. Such is the constitution of our minds, such the im- 
press stamped upon them by the Creator, that we universally, 
necessarily and immediately refer the effects which attach to a 
substance, to powers which we attribute to it, as of its essence, 
constituting it the efficient cause of those effects. But, when we 
attempt to describe the heavens and earth, and in so doing 
enumerate these powers or properties, we are told in respect to 
each, "It is nothing but a continued immediate efficiency of God, 
according to a constitution that he has been pleased to establish." 
By the time the description and the application of this principle 



sect, iv.] The Providential Administration. Ill 

is completed, the creation has vanished ; — there remains nothing 
but the power of God, putting into operation — " I speak as a 
man" — a series of phantasmagoria, for the deception of the 
observer ! Nay, the principle follows us still further. If its 
evidence is adequate to set aside all our intuitive apprehensions, 
so as even to overthrow the testimony of consciousness to our 
real existence and identity, through the successive moments of 
life, there is no reason that can be assigned, why we should rely 
on the witness of that same consciousness, to the reality of our 
present existence. If all effects be referred to God, as sole and 
immediate cause, so must the self-consciousness which we realize ; 
and, before we are aware, the conscious soul is robbed of exist- 
ence, the universe is blotted out, and nothing remains, after the 
juggle has wrought, but God and the phenomena of his exist- 
ence. His word testifies that he has formed a creation. It 
declares that he has given to his creatures powers to be exer- 
cised by them, — to his intelligent creatures, powers, for the right 
use of which they must account to him. "We are assured, that, 
having finished the creation, God rests from all his works. The 
indelible conviction of the potentiality of our own nature, and 
that of all the creatures, is enstamped by the hand of God on 
the soul of man. . Upon the right or wrong use of our powers, 
by us and all moral agents, are suspended the destinies of 
eternity. The alternative is the rejection of all this evidence, or 
of the theory in question. 

In fact, here is that form of pantheism which makes God the 
only real existence; of which, the universe of mind and matter 
is the phenomenon. We know nothing of substances, except 
their properties or powers. No other knowledge is conceivable ; 
and if these have God as their immediate cause, there is nothing 
left, of which to predicate existence or to conceive it possible. 

This doctrine, again, is utterly irreconcilable with the holiness 
of God. If it be so that God is "the only cause of natural 
effects," there can be no author of sin but he. He has declared 
that it is that abominable thing which he hates. He has as- 
sured us that he is angry with the wicked every day; and that, 
although he has no pleasure in their death, but tha/t they turn 



112 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

to him and live, — although he afflicts not willingly, — yet will 
he visit the workers of iniquity with a fearful destruction : — 
"snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest, — this shall 
be the portion of their cup." He has shown his abhorrence of 
sin, by the fearful tide of indignation which was poured on the 
head of his own beloved Son, when our sins were laid upon him. 
Yet the doctrine in question involves, immediately and unavoid- 
ably, the conclusion, that so far from sin being hateful to God, 
he is the efficient and only cause of every sin of all creatures. 
Edwards avoids this conclusion, by recourse to the distinction 
between a privative and a positive cause. Of this we shall take 
notice in another place. 

Edwards' doctrine of identity stands or falls with his theory 
of causation. He supposes us shut up to the alternative, that 
the cause of the continued existence of a substance is, either the 
antecedent existence of the same substance, or else, the imme- 
diate agency, will and power of God. But the very idea of an 
effect is, something distinct from the cause and abiding after 
it. It is something effected, something done, and therefore re- 
maining ; — and the idea of creative causation, is that of the pro- 
duction of substance, — of something that exists, and has forces ; 
and not of mere transient shadows. Such is the scriptural idea 
of creation: — "He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and 
it stood fast." — Psalm xxxiii. 9. The reason, therefore, of the 
present existence of any creature, is not its antecedent existence; 
nor is it the immediate creative agency of God. But it now is, 
because God at the first made it, — gave it substance, and so de- 
termined its continuance ; and, having thus created it, now sus- 
tains it, with that providential care in which he "upholdeth all 
things by the word of his power," — thus continuing to the 
creatures the same being and identity which he bestowed at the 
first. Nor does identity consist in an arbitrary relation, deter- 
mined by a decretive act of God's sovereignty, at variance with 
the creative system, and contrary to the essential reality. But 
it depends upon the continuous evolution of unchanging forces; 
implanted once by creative power, in conformity with sovereign 
wisdom. 



i I : - " " TJie Piwidential Administration, 113 

If waoti Bean, that the Scriptures so unequivocally attribute 
efic: - :.:"- : z to the creatnres 7 that no one who has a reve- 

leoce :.- the s ~:>lume could for a moment doubt it. Thus, 

in :ze narrative :: :ze creation, what can be more explicit than 
ihel. _- _v an .'..---'.' !-:L L 11; 1- — And God said, Lei 
the earth twin _;._:___ 5.=, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit- 
tree yielding z nil ifla 1:5 kind, iri&oae seed z zi zszlf, upon 
:_t t . -... md n m - m And the earth brought forth grass, 
and herb yielding seed Iter its kin 3 md fcbe :;:: yielding fruit, 
:lii zzzj?, zz-. baa zzzd: and God sa~ :_.z it was 
_ ' En -'_ z plains terms could i£ be stated thai 3od be- 
stowed npon the earth a power of fertility, which was an efficient 
-7 z fchevegei : . ._ ._ tMbwed! An .". a z of the powz. ;: 
frncfeificaticHi, attribu: 

kind. If it should that the language k mei .z- sag reas- 

rwe z -„ . nee of things, lei z - '.. ' zz.zo.ch 

::_"■:" no meaning wh atevei ::■ us, but for 
kh i ineffaceable intuition of ci - . ad . z z which God has im- 
plant e I in ob — :lat we are, in this place, addressed as 
being endow-.'. with .1: z z_z.zz:>n; — and that the langn _ 
red sal to this j rinciple, and, under its guidance, 
Estood in but one way We _::.'. oof IweD on the 
othe: -' I d z .his chapter; each one of which is sol z . . 

to sir-... - remark A ; 7 7 z tuple will be sufnc:z_: — i 

God 1 / -.: m make man in our image, after our likeness 
and let them have do mini on over the fish of the sea, and over 
: : w I : : :he air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, 
and : - 7_' every greening thing that creepeth upon the earth. 
3c -- are I zian in hi 5 ; wn bn i g 7 in the image of 3 i 
_ :ed he him; male and female created he them. And God 
Messed them. : __ I jc I sai 1 ante :zzzz Be fruitful, and multiply, 
and replenish the md sohdne z md have donimion. 7 ' 

Is Eh 1 _ -.- _ : . .zzz.'. Ee with the idea that man is a mere 

_ I going mechanically through a 

I fated actions ;z the mere nod of his Creator, operating on 
him from behind the screen! : b there no real power convey . I 
when be was told tc subdue the earth, and have dominion? Is 



114 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

not a generative cansation attributed to him, when the creative 
Word says, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth"? 
By this language, addressed to the first pair, in the instant of 
their creation, was indicated and confirmed a fruitful energy of 
nature, — a propagative force. And by virtue of it, flowing 
from them through the generations of the race, every human 
being in turn receives existence. "God rested the seventh day 
from all his works. . . . The works were finished from the founda- 
tion of the world." — Heb. iv. 3, 4. How is it consistent with 
this, to suppose the existence of each plant, animal and man, 
now in turn to call into requisition the same creative power 
which originated the first? 

Whilst we assert the investiture of the creatures with a true 
and real causation, — an efficiency which is proper to them, apart 
3 6. Office of fr° m God's immediate agency, and which has a dis- 
the system of tinct operation of its own, — on the other hand, the 
nature. creation is constructed with such wisdom and fore- 

cast, and so upheld and controlled by the immediate power and 
providential government of God, that all things occur in precise 
accordance with his will. 

That the phenomena of nature are elements in the harmonious 
scheme of God's government, is unquestionable. He, at the first, 
certainly knew the whole energy of the various forces which he 
set in his works, and anticipated and designed all the results. 
And this, not only as those forces are viewed, simply, and apart 
from each other, but in their complex and multifarious combina- 
tions, which all were ordained by him. If the feeble powers of 
man can determine the time, place and extent of every eclipse 
of sun, moon or planet, for thousands of years to come, how 
much more did the Creator know the whole future of the powers 
of nature; which, having created, he must fully comprehend. 
The results, therefore, which flow with unfailing certainty from 
these causes, to which God thus intelligently gave origin, were 
as truly comprehended in the original plan as were the several 
forces which work out those ultimate results. 

A striking fact to our purpose occurs in the solar system. It 
had been observed by astronomers that the general symmetry 



sect, v.] The Providential Administration. 115 

of that system was marred by an extraordinary vacancy inter- 
vening between Mars and Jupiter, which, apparently, should 
have been filled by an additional planet. On the first day of 
the present century, a planet was discovered revolving in that 
space ; but too small to satisfy the law of the case. That dis- 
covery was soon followed by others, until more than fifty aste- 
roids have been found to revolve in the region indicated ; and, 
— what is true of no other bodies in the solar system, — all these, 
though taking different courses in their revolutions round the sun, 
still cross a common track. The result is little short of demon- 
stration that they once constituted a single planet, revolving in 
the path which they all twice cross in their annual course ; and 
that by some tremendous catastrophe it was rent to pieces and 
the fragments hurled abroad. Tacts familiar to science render it 
probable that events as extraordinary have occurred in the 
heavens even under the astronomer's eye. Luminaries which 
once shone with a steady brightness have been seen gradually 
for years to acquire an increasing glare, until they rivalled the 
brightest stars; then by degrees to decline with changing 
colour, and go out in utter darkness ! Upon the supposition 
that the asteroids are the scattered fragments of a planet rent 
asunder by some convulsion, it must be admitted that the Crea- 
tor knew as well what effect would result, when he originated 
the forces engaged, as he does now; and that, in creating and 
setting the forces in operation, he designed from the first, this, 
no less than the other consequences which have resulted. A 
machinist is not always to be held as having anticipated all the 
effects which follow the construction of his engine. Either he 
may be ignorant of the forces which are employed, or others 
may be introduced which he did not design. But if he knew 
precisely the proportion and relation of all the forces concerned, 
and designed the machine to be used precisely as it was, it is 
apparent that any result which follows must have been included 
in the design. So of God : — generating, himself, all the forces 
in the universe, and knowing perfectly all their relations, the 
conclusion is inevitable, that in laying the train he intended the 
explosion which occurred. Thus, then, all natural events, as 



116 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

they are the effects of causes wisely originated by God, are ele- 
ments in the operation of his hand, — features of his perfect plan. 
But the Creator has not limited himself, in the administration 
of his government, to the original disposition of causes, in har- 
§7. God's own monious adaptation to his purposes. On the con- 
hand. — lie- trary, this entire system of nature, in all the variety 

Cosh's theory. Qf ^ ^^ in ^ ^^ forces and f unctionS; and ^ Q 

adaptations which everywhere abound, was constructed for the 
express purpose of constituting the creatures fitting instruments, 
through whom and upon whom the Creator himself might work ; 
instead of being in and of themselves the adequate causes of the 
contemplated results. In one department of the divine govern- 
ment, this is indisputable. The intercourse of God with man 
has been conducted by a continual series of immediate divine 
interpositions. The plan of salvation, the incarnation and work 
of the Son of God, and the mission and operations of the Holy 
Spirit, both in his ordinary influences, and in his renewing and 
sanctifying agency, — all these are examples of such interposi- 
tions, entirely distinct from the original adaptations of nature. 
The miracles, to which the Bible bears witness, constitute formal 
and emphatic pledges, that God has not surrendered the universe 
to the government of mere natural laws; although these are all 
established by him, in perfect fitness for their offices ; but that 
he himself is ever present, ever active, swaying a providential 
sceptre over his creatures. 

On this subject, the language of McCosh, in his work on the 
divine government, is certainly unguarded; and, if we are not 
mistaken as to what he means to teach, we think his doctrine 
clearly erroneous. Thus, in one place, speaking of the har- 
monious adaptations which everywhere abound among the second 
causes, he says, " By means of this pre-established harmony, God 
can accomplish not only his general, but his individual pur- 
poses, and at the time, and in the way, intended by him. 
As entertaining this view of the perfection of the original con- 
stitution of all things, we see no advantage in calling in special 
interpositions of God acting without physical causes, — always 
excepting the miracles employed to attest divine revelation. 



sect, vi.] The Providential Administration. 117 

But, speaking of the ordinary providence of God, we believe that 
the fitting of the various parts of the machinery is so nice that 
there is no need of any interference with it. "We believe in an 
original disposition of all things ; we believe that in this disposi- 
tion there is provided an interposition of one thing in reference 
to another, so as to produce the individual effect which God 
contemplates; but we are not required by philosophy or religion 
to acknowledge that there is subsequent interposition by God 
with the original dispositions and interpositions which he hath 
instituted. ' This is in fact the great miracle of Providence, that 
no miracles are needed to accomplish his purposes.' — Taylor!'* 

In reference to the answer to prayer, he rejects the supposi- 
tion of Chalmers, that God may interpose among the physical 
agents, beyond the limit to which human sagacity can trace the 
operation of law. His own solution he thus states : — " How is 
it that God sends us the bounties of his providence ? how is it 
that he supplies the many physical wants of his creatures ? how 
is it that he encourages industry ? how is it that he arrests the 
plots of wickedness ? how is it that he punishes in this life noto- 
rious offenders against his law? The answer is, — by the skilful 
pre-arrangements of his providence, whereby the needful events 
fall out at the very time and in the very way required. When 
the question is asked, How does God answer prayer ? we give 
the very same reply : — it is by the pre-ordained appointment of 
God, when he settled the constitution of the world, and set all 
its parts in order. "f 

The theory of pre-established harmony originated with Leib- 
nitz. It grew out of the Cartesian theory as to the impossibility 
of the mind immediately perceiving external objects. He there- 
fore supposed the soul to be incapable of acquiring any informa- 
tion through the bodily senses ; and the body to be in no wise in- 
fluenced or controlled by the powers of the soul. But they are 
mutually adapted to each other, in such a way, that while the 
body, under the operation of merely physical causes, enacts its 
part in the drama of life, the soul evolves from within a series 
of states and a continuous consciousness, which precisely corre- 

* McCosh on the Divine Government, p. 190. f Ibid. p. 233. 



118 The Elohim Revealed, [chap. hi. 

spond with, the contemporaneous states and condition of the body, 
a panorama being as it were unfolded within to the recognition 
of the intellect, pari passu with the development of the corre- 
sponding phenomena, in the body and external nature. In this 
respect man is a microcosm, — the harmony thus instituted be- 
tween body and soul being typical of what is universal through- 
out the creation. Men " perceive what passes without them, by 
what passes within them, answering to the things without; in 
virtue of the harmony which God has pre-established, by the 
most beautiful and the most admirable of all his productions ; 
whereby every simple substance is by its nature, if one may so 
say, a concentration and a living mirror of the universe, accord- 
ing to its point of view."* 

The author of this theory carefully guards against the error 
of McCosh. It being objected to his doctrine, that it would 
bring the whole economy of grace within the province of natural 
laws, and the instrumentality of second causes, Leibnitz re- 
plies, that "God by supernatural influences supplies natural 
defects, and so succours the soul by his grace, that it accom- 
plishes what by natural powers it could not do. Since, then, God 
from the beginning proposed to bestow these special favours 
upon his creatures, he ordered things in such a way that in the 
natural world all results should so present themselves as to cor- 
respond with these effects in the kingdom of grace. And wher- 
ever the powers with which the creatures are invested are not 
sufficient to this, he provides by miracle that which may serve 
to keep up the parallel; the operations which belong to the 
kingdom of grace, being included in the nexus of things, not ex- 
cluded from it."f In another place he remarks, that "when 
God works miracles, he does not do it in order to supply the 
wants of nature, but those of grace. "{ Of miracles he dis- 
tinguishes two classes, viz., wonders wrought by angelic power, 
and miracles proper, the immediate works of omnipotence.! 
These teachings, however defective, are much less exceptionable 
than those of McCosh. The one leaves an indefinite margin, for 

* Corresp. Leibnitz and Clarke, 1717, p. 241. -j- Leibn. Tentamina Theodi- 

csese, I 64, note. % Leibn. and Clarke, p. 3. \ lb. p. 113; Tent. Theod. \ 249. 



sect, vii.] The Providential Administration. 119 

the immediate interposition of God. The other limits it to the 
attesting of revelation. We cannot but look upon this theory 
as meagre and unsatisfactory. It does not differ from the philo- 
sophy of Pope which McCosh so justly condemns, unless it be in 
recognising a more complex disposition of the powers of na- 
ture, at the beginning ; and a more special regard for the several 
particular results thence flowing. The radical error of the theory, 
is in respect to the office to which creation was constructed. 
It assumes that office to be such, that the admission of God's 
immediate hand would imply the discovery of an imperfection 
in the original structure. "The fitting of the various parts 
of the machinery is so nice, that there is no need of any interfe- 
rence with it." A class of miracles is excepted; but all things 
else are subjected to the exclusive disposition of second causes. 
But, if the nature of the system be such, that the interposition 
of God's immediate agency would imply a defect, the assumption 
is as fatal to the admission of any sort of miracle, as of any other 
interposition whatever. 

In fact, if we are to understand the phrase " divine revela- 
tion" in any such restricted sense as the argument of our author 
I 8. Miracles requires, the suggestion that the sole or chief office 
and special f miraculous interpositions is to attest particular 
p10 communications from God, implies an exceedingly 

defective conception of their true significance. Whilst it is a 
fact that miracles did serve to attest divine revelations, it is 
equally true, and of as great significance, that, to the greater 
part of the human family, the order is reversed, and it is the 
Scriptures which attest the miracles. Many indeed of the most 
sublime and signal miracles which the world has ever witnessed, 
were wrought ages before the oldest book of Scripture was 
written ; and whatever purpose they may have served, in attest- 
ing communications from God to the contemporary populations 
of the earth, they could not, in the nature of the case, fulfil such 
an office to the subsequent generations; to whom they have 
been made known by revelation. Such, — to omit all that re- 
spects the immediate family of Adam, — was the translation of 
Enoch, the deluge, the confusion of tongues, the destruction of 



120 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

the cities of the plain, and the various miraculous events in the 
lives of the patriarchs. So far from filling the subordinate office 
of mere attestation to particular revelations, miracles constitute, 
in and of themselves, a revelation the most interesting and im- 
portant, and which is fundamental to every other. They testify 
unequivocally to the very fact which our author denies, — that 
the omnipotent God exercises a direct and personal providence 
over all his works; in which he employs second causes, when he 
sees good, but is always and altogether unrestricted by them; 
and whether acting in them, or aside from them, puts forth his 
own power, in an influence which is intimate and all-pervasive. 
Such is the principle which God himself states, as the reason of 
the wonders wrought on Pharaoh: — "In very deed for this cause 
have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that 
my name may be declared throughout all the earth." — Ex. ix. 16. 
To it Joshua refers all the scenes witnessed by Israel in Egypt 
and the wilderness : — "that all the people of the earth might 
know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty." — Josh. iv. 24. 
Such was the plea of Hezekiah, in answer to which the angel 
of the Lord smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred 
fourscore and five thousand : — " Lord our God, I beseech thee, 
save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may 
know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only." — 2 Kings 
xix. 19. And for this purpose was the proud king of Babylon 
driven forth among the beasts: — "until thou know that the 
Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to 
whomsoever he will." — Dan. iv. 32. 

The original system and structure of nature was, unquestion- 
ably, perfect. But to what office? Certainly not to work out 
its own results, to the exclusion of the agency of its Author. 
Creation is not a great clock, wound up at the first, and then 
left to tell off its fated periods ; but a vast and complicated in- 
strument, perfect in all its parts, symmetrical and harmonious 
in the multiform play of its various forces; each of which has 
an energy of its own, but all inspected by the watchful eye, 
and ruled and guided by the immediate hand, of the omnipresent 
Creator. By his agency, governing and controlling all those 



sect, vii.] The Providential Administration. 121 

powers, and modifying the motions by his omnipotent will, in a 
way of perfect harmony with the structure of the several parts, 
and the order of the whole, all is made to conform, in a system of 
manifold wisdom and goodness, to the accomplishment of his 
purposes of grace and glory. " Of him, and through him, and to 
him, are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen." — 
Kom. xi. 36. 

Viewed in any other light, miracles are altogether anomalous, 
conveying the unworthy imputation that the Creator has been 
reduced, by unforeseen contingencies, to the alternative of fail- 
ure in his designs, or of turning aside the actual tendency of 
events by violence, and forcing them into such channels as will 
suit his plans. Hence Hume's false and insidious definition of a 
miracle : — " A violation of the laws of nature." When, however, 
we view the whole scheme of creation and providence, as framed 
with the one object of providing instruments, in the use of 
which the Creator may actively reveal the glory of his various 
attributes, all such unworthy conceptions vanish. The laws 
of nature show themselves fully adapted to accomplish the part 
for which they were designed, — flowing on in undisturbed cur- 
rent to the final consummation; whilst, gliding harmoniously 
into their channel, and mingling in the common tide, special 
providences and miracles occur, to give a voice to all, and testify 
in living tones, to the hearts of men, that He whom sun, moon 
and stars proclaim, is not the Fate of Epicurus, rolling on in 
undeviating course, crushing all beneath its iron wheel, — no blind 
abstraction enthroned in heartless severance from human cares 
and sympathies, — but a living, active, personal Providence, the 
Lord and Life of all ; and, though unapprehended by sense, still 
very near to every one of us. Creation, viewed apart, presents 
a noble form, — a structure the contemplation of which is suited 
to exalt the soul, filling its expanding capacities with sublime 
and amazing conceptions. But still it is like some piece from 
the chisel of a Phidias, a study of delight to the artist; but 
marble, cold and lifeless ; mocking the expectant ear with its 
silence, and tiring the eager eye with its lofty but unchanging 
look. But as we gaze in trembling awe, as with beating hearts 



122 The EloJiim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

we behold the tremendous train rolling on forever and forever, 
in resistless, headlong, hopeless career, — as we begin to hear the 
ensnaring whispers of atheistic unbelief, and ask ourselves whether 
creation itself be not a living thing, a very God, we are aroused 
from such false and fatal speculations. There is a sudden pause, 
without confusion or jar ! The sun, which from the birthday of 
man had continually swept across the heavens, in his seemingly 
fated and unending course, rests from his career on Gibeon ; and 
the moon, in the valley of Ajalon. "We behold again, whilst 
insatiate Death sees his bars of steel rent asunder, and his vic- 
tims set free. Foul diseases fly the touch of sharers of flesh; 
and even the insensate elements listen and obey their voice! 
As we witness these things, and observe their occasions, nature 
acquires speech, — the lifeless marble becomes warm with vital 
heat ; and in sublime and soul-moving accents, her voice pro- 
claims, that the God who made all things, governs all things 
still, and condescends to care for man ; that his gracious provi- 
dence is active in our low affairs ; that " this God is our God 
for ever and ever, and will be our guide even unto death." 

So, in the communication to us of the Scriptures, in the incar- 
nation and work of Christ, in the controlling, the renewing and 
sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, — in all these we have 
illustrations of the habitual and immediate intervention of God 
with his works ; constituting a clearly marked and conspicuous 
feature of his government. These cannot, therefore, be inconsist- 
ent with, but constitute a cardinal element in, the original plan, 
— a feature in its perfection. 

Further, we may not forget that there are other created 
powers in the universe, beside laws and physical causes. The 
angels, — "are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minis- 
ter for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" — Heb. i. 14. On 
the other hand are Satan and his angels, " the prince of the power 
of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
dience." — Eph. ii. 2. These all are agencies most potent, and 
produce effects most important, not only moral, but physical, as 
is seen in the afflictions of Job, the temptation of the Son of God, 
the case of the demoniac of Gadara, and others. Above all these 



sect, viii.] The Providential Administration. 123 

is the Spirit of God, ruling over the powers of men and devils; 
making their wrath to praise him ; and restraining the remainder 
thereof; working in men's hearts, the righteous and the wicked, 
— both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 

So completely has this method of immediate interposition 
characterized the history of the government of the world, that, 
so far as man is concerned, there are absolutely no results which, 
first and last, flow from the unmixed operation of second causes. 
In one form or other the agency of God's own hand has entered 
into and modifies every thing. There is no event of which we 
may not truly say, in this special sense, " This is the finger of 
God." Nor may we limit the sovereignty of God to the modes 
of intervention here named. These attest that he does not stand 
an idle spectator, but actively interposes his immediate agency, 
in the government of his creation. And the Scriptures abun- 
dantly testify that these are but examples and illustrations of the 
whole policy of his administration; — that he is no more really 
present in his sovereign power, amid those amazing displays of 
omnipotence and majesty, in the presence of which the earth 
trembles and the mountains are shaken, than in that ordinary 
providence, by which "he worketh all things after the counsel of 
his own will." — Eph. i. 11. In fact, no doctrine is more constantly 
and emphatically taught in the Scriptures, than that of a par- 
ticular providence, exercised by the immediate hand of God. 
" Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? and one of them 
shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very 
hairs of your head are all numbered." — Matt. x. 29, 30. "I form 
the light, and create darkness ; I make peace, and create evil : I 
the Lord do all these things." — Isa. xlv. 7. " Lord, thou hast 
searched me and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and 
mine uprising ; thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou 
compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted 
with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but 
lo, Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me 
behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me." — Psalm cxxxix. 
1-5. " He giveth to all, life, and breath, and all things ; and 
hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the 



124 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, 

and the bounds of their habitation For in him we live, and 

move, and have our being." — Acts xvii. 25-28. " The angel of 
the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and de- 
livereth them." — Psalm xxxiv. 7. " God is our refuge and 
strength, a very present help in trouble." — Psalm xlvi. 1. Such 
are the assurances on which faith relies, — the pledges to which 
prayer appeals. To say that such places only mean to teach that 
the frame of nature was so constructed at the beginning, as 
mechanically to work out .provision for the case of the afflicted, 
is to deny the express terms of the assurances often repeated, 
and attested by the Spirit in the believer's heart. It is, to mock 
his hunger with ashes. Not mere escape from danger does he 
want. Not mere provision for his necessities does he seek. But 
he seeks covert in the bosom of a present God, — a living, active, 
loving guardian and benefactor. Such a refuge the Holy Spirit 
offers in the word. Such a refuge the Comforter within per- 
suades him to expect. The alternative is, the atheism of con- 
tradicting these testimonies; or, the admission that God does 
exert a constant and immediate agency in all events. 

In viewing the subjects of the providential government, all are 
naturally resolved into two elements; — the one, comprehending 
39. Principles ^ ne whole material system, the worlds and the 
of administra- lower orders of creation; which, in all its extent, 
tlon ' constitutes the stage and its furniture, upon which 

the scenes of divine providence are enacted; rather than the 
proper subjects of that providence. The general characteristics 
here, are uniformity and permanence. The other element com* 
prehends the moral universe, constituting the subjects of God's 
government; the objects for whom, in subservience to the divine 
glory, the material system was created. The moral system, 
again, is subdivided into the two classes of men in the flesh, and 
disembodied spirits, human and angelic. In the general govern- 
ment of the material system, the reign of mere natural law would 
seem to be undisturbed and universal, except at points where the 
system is implicated in more or less intimate connection with 
the intellectual and moral world. The great masses belonging 



sect, vin.] The Providential Administration. 125 

to this system are uniform in their motions ; and their phenomena 
unvarying through successive cycles. In the animal kingdom, 
too, this uniformity is marked ; although, placed as they are at 
the portals of the moral world, endowed with a measure of intel- 
ligence, which constitutes them harbingers of the higher system, 
related to man in an intimate subordination to his authority, and 
implicated in his relations to God's government, they realize 
something of the vicissitude which is characteristic of his condi- 
tion. But the instant we enter the moral world, we find our- 
selves surrounded by evidences of a dispensation operating upon 
entirely other principles. The difference in the system of govern- 
ment is as essential and as great as is that between the nature 
of the unconscious clod and of the seraphic intelligence. In the 
one world, the bond of allegiance to the Creator's throne is that 
of physical laws, and through these is its government dispensed. 
In the other, the bond is that of moral law, addressed to the 
reason, attested by conscience, and claiming the allegiance of the 
will. The government in this system is conducted by the agency 
of Jehovah, in a manner which is continually more and more 
intimate and immediate, as we ascend the scale of moral being. 
Whilst men in their native state, apostate from God, are left in 
a great measure slaves to earth's vicissitudes, and the, to them, 
uncertain operation of nature's physical laws, the child of God 
realizes continually increasing evidence of the habitual interposi- 
tion of God in his behalf; and anticipates with joy the time when 
he will be emancipated altogether from the bondage of physical 
causes, in the immediate presence of Him, of whom he exultingly 
cries, "All my springs are in thee!" and experience forever the 
dispensation of infinite love, from the immediate hands of infinite 
Wisdom and Power. 

The field of inquiry at which we have thus glanced, would 
richly repay extensive exploration. We can only now suggest 
the conclusions bearing upon our present subject, which seem 
to flow alike from all the facts that are accessible, and from the 
whole tenor of the Scriptures. These are, that the two spheres 
of divine operation, the natural and the moral, are to be 
carefully distinguished from each other, in searching out the 



126 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

manner of God's government; — that the principle of administra- 
tion, in the one, is by physical causes and natural laws; in the 
other, by moral law and immediate dispensation ; — that whilst in 
the mere material universe the operation of physical causes 
seems to be universal and exclusive, and in the world of spirits 
the divine administration is immediate, our world, as the abode 
of spirits clothed in flesh and fallen, is the scene of a compli- 
cated dispensation, in which the ordinary operation of physical 
causes and mediate instrumentality is modified by continual 
interpositions of the divine hand, — interpositions growing in fre- 
quency and demonstration, in proportion as he who is their sub- 
ject draws nearer, and is qualified for the realm of light in 
God's immediate presence. 

In regard to the details of the ordinary dispensation of this 
providential government, there are several things to be observed, 
§ io. Mode of at which, however, we can only glance. 
dispensation. \ m Q- 0( j i s everywhere and immediately present 

among his creatures, " upholding all things by the word of his 
power." — Heb. i. 3. Two opposite ideas are here to be avoided; 
to wit, — the attributing of independent existence to the creatures ; 
and the supposition that their necessary dependence militates 
against the reality of a continuous existence and identity in 
them. The supposition of a delegated self-existence is a contra- 
diction in terms ; and hence, of necessity, the creatures must 
be dependent, each instant, upon the power of the Creator, for 
the instant's continuance in being. Not only so ; but the finite 
being, the springs of whose continued existence were in itself, 
would seem to be endowed with power to put off that existence. 
How gladly would the devils plunge into the gulf of annihila- 
tion ! But they forever live, because the omnipotent God, in 
justice, forever says to them, Live, to endure the curse ! On 
the other hand, the existence which is thus momentarily en- 
joyed at the will of omnipotence, is not the result of a suc- 
cession of new creative acts. Logically, the two ideas, — that of 
a continued existence, sustained by God; and that of a perpetual 
series of new and transient creations, of the same form and 
character, and sustaining the same relations, — are altogether 



sect, ix.] The Providential Administration. 127 

distinct, and cannot by any process be reduced to identity. 
Morally, the latter breaks up all ties of relation between the 
creatures, and of them towards God, and reduces the universe to 
an unreal phantasm. Scriptur ally, this conception has no counte- 
nance; but, on the contrary, God's upholding power, sustaining 
the creatures in a really continuous existence, is constantly as- 
serted. This upholding agency has regard both to the material 
and spiritual creation ; every part of which alike has its being 
in God. The following points have more immediate respect to 
man. 

2. In all men the Holy Spirit exerts a continually restraining 
energy, so as to keep their corruptions, as well as all their 
powers, within the bounds which he has appointed, for his own 
holy purposes. Man having so departed from God as to be 
altogether disinclined to reverence or love him, or to obey his 
law, all bonds of moral restraint are broken, and the only 
reason why men, thus lost to holy motives, are not rivals in 
wickedness to the lost inhabitants of hell, is, that God in mercy, 
by his providence and Spirit, puts restraint upon their native 
corruptions, allowing them to flow out so far as may serve to 
accomplish his holy purposes, but otherwise holding them under 
his omnipotent restraint. Hence the language of the Psalmist ; 
" Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee : the remainder of 
wrath shalt thou restrain." — Psalm lxxvi. 10. In this fact we 
have the key to Paul's statement, that "whom he will he hard- 
eneth." — Eom. ix. 18. By relaxing the bonds and allowing cor- 
ruption to flow, he permits the heart to grow hard and the con- 
science to become seared. 

3. Even where there is not an absolute restraint put upon 
the corruptions, the natural impulses and dispositions of men, 
they are so limited that they may take no other than that 
direction which will fulfil the divine purposes. Thus, in the 
case of the hostility of the brethren of Joseph, they were re- 
strained from putting him to death, but left to sell him into 
Egypt, so bringing to pass the very thing which they were en- 
deavouring to prevent; so that Joseph truly says, "It was not 
you that sent me hither, but God." — Gen. xlv. 8. The rulers 



128 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

of Israel were thus restrained in regard to the murder of the 
Son of God; so that they, who were continually breaking out 
into factions and imbruing their hands in blood, insist upon the 
execution of Christ by the Koman governor, with the plea, that 
it was not lawful for them to put any man to death. But this 
came to pass that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, that thus it 
should be. His body must be lifted up from the earth as a 
curse; and his blood must flow as a sacrifice; — two circumstances 
which did not meet in any Jewish mode of execution. The 
feature of the divine administration here pointed out, solves the 
difficulty that is sometimes apprehended, in such places as that of 
Peter : — " Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and 
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have 
crucified and slain." — Acts ii. 23. God neither gave nor stimu- 
lated wrong dispositions in the actors in that atrocious scene, 
nor did he give a bare permission; "but such as had joined 
with it a most wise and powerful bounding and otherwise order- 
ing and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation to his 
own holy ends, yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceeded only 
from the creature and not from God."* 

4. A controlling influence of a somewhat different kind is 
illustrated in the sixth chapter of the book of Esther. Sleep is 
withheld from the king, and his wakeful thoughts are led to 
the records of his reign, the reading of which gives occasion to 
the honouring of Mordecai, and the defeat of all the plans of 
Haman. Essentially similar in its nature was the influence 
exerted in the minds of Pharaoh and of Nebuchadnezzar, in- 
ducing their prophetic dreams, which were interpreted by 
Joseph and Daniel. Thus it is evident that God can and does 
exert a direct influence over the minds of men, even the un- 
godly, inducing thoughts suited to the accomplishing of his pur- 
poses. " The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the 
rivers of water : he turneth it whithersoever he will." — Pro v. 
xxi. 1. 

5. On the other hand, in all holy exercises and right actions, 
the immediate power of the Holy Spirit is active, creating right 

* Westminster Confession, ch. v. 4. 



sect, x.] The Providential Administration. 129 

affections, and leading and impelling his people to do such things 
as are in accordance with God's holy will ; so that whilst the 
liberty of the agent is not taken away, but he is freed from his 
previous bondage to corruption and sin, and, by the exercise of 
his natural faculties, " worketh out his own salvation with fear 
and trembling," on the other hand, as to the real efficiency and 
power, "it is God which worketh in him both to will and to do of 
his good pleasure." — Phil. ii. 12, 13. It is to this, especially, that 
the apostle James refers, when, denying that we are tempted 
of God, but of our own corruptions, he, on the contrary, adds 
that " every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and 
cometh down from the Father of lights." — James i. 17. 

6. Beside these modes of operation in the ordinary providence 
of God, who shall forbid, that in many ways, untraceable by us, 
but adoringly witnessed by blessed spirits, the immediate power 
of God should interpose in human affairs ? "We are persuaded 
that the whole analogy of his government, and the tone of the 
entire Scriptures, lead directly to this conclusion. We are con- 
fident that we express but the common experience and the com- 
mon sentiment of his people, — of those with whom is "the secret 
of the Lord," — in declaring our conviction that in multitudes of 
instances they are indebted to the fatherly care of an almighty 
hand, which, concealed from carnal observation, but recognised 
by faith, dispenses blessings which the natural action of second 
causes would never have conveyed. 

The government of God, thus variously administered, is uni- 
versal in its dominion, and constant in its exercise; it has re- 
l n. Condu- spect to the most minute, as well as the greatest 
sion - results; and is absolute in its sway. It is not a 

mere influence, but a power. Omnipotent to arrest the sun in 
its course, to loose the fountains of waters, or to command the 
sea back to its appointed place, — it with equal sovereignty rules 
the wills of men, angels and devils. To assert the will to be of 
such a nature as to be necessarily independent of God, is to say 
that he, in making it for his own purposes, placed it beyond his 
own power. To say that it cannot be subject to an effectual 
control, without destroying its moral agency, is to pretend to 



130 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. hi. 

have fathomed all its depths, and measured the whole extent 
and nature of its relations to the creative hand. It is to assume 
that there cannot be in the soul any susceptibilities, accessible 
even to the power of its Maker, outside the sphere of its self- 
conscious activity; — which is most absurd. To deny that God 
can rule the creature he has made, as it is, endowed with attri- 
butes bestowed by him, is to imagine the delegated power of God 
which resides in the creature to be superior to that which is in 
the Creator himself; which is a contradiction in terms. It is to 
limit God; which is atheism. 

In short, the universe was framed specifically to reveal the 
very truth concerning the nature of that God who is everywhere 
and ever present, the sovereign of all, essentially active, 
and infinitely wise and good. This it does, not by presenting 
him, once active in creation, and then forever quiescent, — once 
sovereign, in decreeing the order of creation, and the events of 
providence; and then forever an inactive spectator ; : — once pre- 
sent with his creatures, in giving them existence and attributes ; 
and then forever withdrawn within himself; — once, in the be- 
ginning, exhausting the stores of his beneficence; and then for- 
ever ceasing to bestow. Such is not the God of the Bible, — the 
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, — the glorious worker 
whom nature proclaims. The creatures, as we have already 
seen, were formed with two designs; — to be objects in whom the 
glory of the perfections of God should have exercise and dis- 
play; — and to be made happy in apprehending that glory. As 
finite, they could not apprehend the glory of God, or perceive 
his activity, except as displayed upon finite things. Hence, in 
this aspect of it, the creation itself; — presenting, on the one 
hand, an expanse vast enough, alike in physical and moral di- 
mensions, to exhaust the loftiest created powers; and on the 
other, in its details, stooping to the reach of the meanest capa- 
city. Again, in but two ways could our infirmity trace the 
working, and in it, the glory, of God, — in the universe thus 
created; — as he works through the creatures; that is, by the 
mediation of second causes; and as he acts upon them, by his 
own immediate power. The uniformity and mediate action of 



sect, xi.] The Providential Administration. 131 

the one mode of operation is requisite alike to the free agency 
and happiness of the creatures and the revelation of the wisdom 
and unchangeableness of the Creator. The speciality of the 
other, is as necessary and important, alike to the creatures, and 
to the revelation of the living God. By this means is it made 
known that it is God, and not nature, that ruleth; and that 
everywhere and in all things he is, — the ever present, ever 
active, ever sovereign and gracious God. Said the Saviour, 
"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." — John v. 17. The 
attempt to ignore his immediate agency in the orderings of 
special providences, out of respect to the orderly working of the 
laws of nature, is as unphilosophical and unscriptural as is the 
denial of second causes, and the reference of all things to God as 
not only the first, but the only, cause. " God in his ordinary pro- 
vidence maketh use of means ; yet is free to work without, above 
and against them, at his pleasure."* In all the modes of dispensa- 
tion it is the same God. In all he works with equal and absolute 
sovereignty. In all he is most holy and good. In all there is the 
most perfect harmony, and concurrence to the wise and holy de- 
signs. In the interpositions of his own hand he does no violence 
to the laws and order of nature, which he himself ordained. In 
the procession of second causes and ordinary providence he does 
not preclude, but anticipates and provides for, the immediate ex- 
ertions of his power. In each alike are unfolded the harmonious 
elements of the perfect plan, which, formed in the beginning, and 
infallibly accomplished in all its details, shall be displayed in the 
amazing glory of the whole result, at the consummation of all 
things; to the unspeakable blessedness of his saints, and the in- 
finite honour of their wonderful God. 

* Westminster Confession, ch. v. 3. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ADAM THE LIKENESS OF GOD. 

"Now heaven in all her glory shone, and rolled 
Her motions, as the first great Mover's hand 
First wheeled their course ; earth in her rich attire 
Consummate lovely smiled ; air, water, earth, 
By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swam, was walked 
Frequent ; and of the sixth day yet remained, 
There wanted yet the master work, the end 
Of all yet done ; a creature who, not prone 
And brute, as other creatures, but endued 
With sanctity of reason, might erect 
His stature, and upright, with front serene, 
Govern the rest ; self-knowing, and from thence 
Magnanimous, to correspond with heaven ; 
But grateful to acknowledge whence his good 
Descends ; thither with heart and voice and eyes 
Directed in devotion, to adore 
And worship God supreme, who made him, chief 
Of all his works." — Paradise Lost, Book vii. 

It is the morning of creation. The world has been, by the 
almighty Word of God, made of nothing. Light has been shed 
\ i. Adam upon the formless mass; the waters gathered to- 
the image and gether ; the dry land exposed and planted with 
likeness. grass, herbs and trees; the heavenly hosts have 

been marshalled to their stations and services ; the waters peopled 
with fish; the forests and plains with the inferior animals, and 
the air with the feathered tribes. Thus far the narrative of 
Moses flows without interruption, and the scenes of the creation 
pass continuously before us. But here occurs a pause in the 
story. A council of the Triune Creator sits ; and from it issues 
a decree for the creation of man : — " Let us make man in our 
image, after our likeness ; and let them have dominion over the 

132 



sect, i.] Adam the Likeness of God. 133 

fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, 
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creep- 
eth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image : in 
the image of God created he him; male and female created he 
them."— Gen. i. 26, 27. 

It is scarcely necessary to insist that the creation here an- 
nounced is not merely of the first man, but of the species. This 
is involved in all which follows, and is announced in the decree 
itself: — "Let us make man, and let them have dominion." It 
is, Dix ; — not, wx,—man, and not, a man. So, too, in the Septua- 
gint and Vulgate, the generic, and not the individual designa- 
tion, is used. It is, avdptoTZOc, and homo, — not dvrjp nor vir. 

Great prominence is given to Adam's likeness to God. Twice 
mentioned in the decree of his creation, it is twice re-stated in 
the account of the work. There are some facts which would 
seem to give plausibility to the supposition that the same idea 
is couched in his name, — that it is derived from, oi, dam, mean- 
ing, likeness. Adam was not made of earth, (noix), adamah, 
but of dust, (^SJP), haphar. In the following places the word, 
("^), dust, is used to describe the material of man's body : — 
Gen. ii. 7, iii. 19 ; Job vii. 21, x. 9, xvii. 16, xxi. 26, xxxiv. 15, xl. 13 ; 
Psalm xxii. 29, xxx. 9, ciii. 14^ civ. 29; Eccl. iii. 20, xii. 7; Dan. 
xii. 2. In no instance, is the word, (•"9>s) J earth, or ground, so em- 
ployed. Further, the material of his corporeal frame is neither 
mentioned in the original narrative of his creation and the giving 
of his name, in Gen. i. 26, 27, nor in the subsequent rehearsal 
of the same facts, in Gen. v. 1, 2; but is introduced in another 
place, (Gen. ii. 7,) in an incidental manner, unaccompanied with 
any allusion to the giving of his name; whilst in both of the 
places where his naming is mentioned, it is in pointed connec- 
tion with the assertion of his likeness to God. — " And God said, 
Let us make Adam (the likeness) in our image, after our like- 
ness. ... So God created Adam in his own image." — Gen. 
i. 26, 27. " In the day that God created Adam, in the likeness 
of God made he him, male and female created he them, and 
blessed them, and called their name Adam, (the likeness) in the 
day when they were created." — Gen. v. 1, 2. Thus, too, the 



134 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

name was an element in the blessing; a fact which seems best to 
accord with its meaning, the likeness. On the other hand, when, 
in the utterance of the curse, a form of expression is used, which 
throws emphasis upon the mention of the material of his body, 
we look in vain for any allusion to his name; although had it 
signified, earth, such an allusion was confidently to be expected. 
It is not said, "Adam (earth) thou art," &c, but "Dust thou 
art, and unto dust shalt thou return." — Gen. iii. 19. How ac- 
cordant with the genius of the Hebrew language would have 
been the introduction of Adam's name, had it meant, earth, will 
be seen by reference to such places as 1 Sam. xxv. 25 : — "As his 
name is, so is he; Nabal (folly) is his name, and folly is with 
him." This figure (paronomasia) is frequent in the Hebrew 
Scriptures, and, from the nature of the case, is generally lost in 
translation; e.g. Judges xv. 16; Amos viii. 1, 2. In Matt. xvi. 
18, we have a memorable example: — "Thou art Peter, and upon 
this rock (petra) I will build my church." 

The manner of Adam's creation fixes our attention, no less 
emphatically, upon a peculiar and divine nature, distinguishing 
him above the other works of God. Of the other creatures, 
God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass; — Let the waters 
bring forth the moving creature; — Let the earth bring forth the 
living creature, cattle, &c. ; and it was so." But of man the 
Creator appears in a more immediate and peculiar manner the 
builder of his body, and the author of his soul. " God said, Let 
us make man," &c. "And the Lord God formed man of the 
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life, and man became a living soul." This formation of his body 
by the finger of God, and origin of his spirit from the inspira- 
tion of the Almighty, was what entitled Adam to that noble 
designation by which Luke calls him, "the Son of God." 

To all this, add the contrast which Moses holds forth, between 
the likeness inscribed on Adam by his Maker, and that trans- 
mitted by him to Seth and his seed. When Moses wrote, the 
generations of Adam's other sons had all perished in the flood. 
His narrative of them is brief, and leaves us to infer what sort 
of nature thev inherited, from the character of their deeds, and 



sect, i.] Adam the Likeness of God. 135 

the fearfulness of their doom. But he wrote for the children 
of Seth; whose seed constitute the present population of the 
globe ; and he is therefore more specific, in describing the nature 
which they inherited. "In the day that God created man, in 
the likeness of God made he him; male and female crea'.jd he 
them ; and blessed them, and called their name, Adam, in the day 
when they were created. And Adam lived an hundred and 
thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image ; 
and called his name Seth." — Gen. v. 1-3. Adam's name re- 
mained; but the glory of the likeness was obscured; and his son 
inherits, — not the original and perfect image of God, — but the 
likeness of his fallen parent. "How is the gold become dim, 
and the most fine gold changed!" 

There is a difference in the meaning of the words, image, and 
likeness, as applied to Adam; which, although not essential, is 
worthy of notice. The word, image, seems to express, properly, 
a mere form, or external figure, as when it is said, "■ Ye shall 
break down their images." — Ex. xxiii. 24. But the word, like- 
ness, is more full in its meaning, as expressing a resemblance, in 
all respects as complete as possible. It intimated, not only a 
general likeness to God, in the attributes of Adam's nature, but 
an intimate resemblance, in his endowments, attitude and ac- 
tions. It expressed not only the possession of will, conscience 
and reason, says Luther, but "that he possessed such a reason, 
and such an understanding, that he understood and knew God; 
and a will by which he willed and desired that which God willed 
and desired."* The use of these two words thus associated was 
also designed to emphasize man's likeness to God. 

We have already intimated man's likeness to God to have been 
set up for the instruction and admiration, not of man only, 
but of the heavenly intelligences. To limit the design to earth, 
is objectionable, for several reasons. (1.) Adam had no human 
fellows to behold that image, as in original perfection it shone 
in him. (2.) It was he as the impersonation of the whole race, 
and, after him, the race collectively rather than individually, 
that constitute the image, — an image in the light of which each 

* Luther on the First Five Chapters of Genesis. Edinburgh, 1858, p. 444. 



136 The Elohini Revealed. [chap. iv. 

individual shines ; but which, in its full glory, is only seen in the 
whole. — "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and 

let them have dominion In the image of God created 

he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed 
them; and God said unto them, Be fruitful." — Gen. i. 26-28. 
"He blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day 
when they were created." — Gen. v. 2. (3.) The angels have 
been from the first employed in the service of man, as their 
proper business. They are "all ministering spirits, sent forth 
to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." — Heb. 
i. 14. They have been astonished witnesses of all the wonders 
which man's salvation unfolds; as Paul says of the apostles, — 
"We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and 
to men." — 1 Cor. iv. 9. And they have been eager students 
of the mysteries of God's glory which man's history reveals. 
"Which things," says Peter, speaking of the doctrines of 
the preached gospel, — "Which things the angels desire to 
look into." — 1 Pet. i. 12. (4.) The mission of man as God's 
image finds its consummation in the second Adam, and in his 
body the church, exercising from the throne of heaven that 
dominion which was stated as one feature of Adam's image, in 
the decree for his creation ; and swaying a sceptre and revealing 
a glory, on which every eye in the universe will gaze, in wonder 
and joy; and which every beholder will celebrate and adore. 

Thus, amid the shoutings of the sons of God, was man in- 
stalled, the likeness of his Maker. What a high dignity and 
§2. His body prerogative was this ! But wherein did the likeness 
immortal. consist? Certainly it was not in his bodily shape. 

"To whom will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare 
unto him?" — Isa. xl. 18. It is a trait of man's atrocious apos- 
tasy, that the heathen have "changed the glory of the incor- 
ruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man." — Kom. 
i. 23. The utmost that can be said in this respect, as to Adam's 
body, is, that in beauty and dignity of form, and skill of mechan- 
ism, it was worthy to be the crowning work of God's material 
creation; constituting a well- adapted home for the illustrious 
spirit that dwelt therein. In one respect, indeed, it shared in 



sect, i.] Adam the Likeness of God. 137 

the likeness in which the spirit shone. It was immortal. As 
created, it was endowed with a life which was altogether inde- 
pendent of that decay and dissolution which were characteristic 
of all the lower creatures beside. To the inferior brute creation, 
decay and death were normal conditions. By occasion of this, 
the earth displays that ever changing scene, and exhaustless va- 
riety, which serve to display the power and resources of the 
Creator. These are seen in the varying proportions of genera 
and species, which fill the earth, and the unfailing perpetuation 
of tribes and families; which remain whilst individuals and 
generations continually vanish away. Amid the perishing my- 
riads of animated nature Adam sat enthroned, showing God's 
image, as well in the immortality of his imperishable body, as 
in those higher moral perfections which clothed his undying soul. 
As the fall of man did not first kindle the fires of hell, — they 
were " prepared for the devil and his angels," — so, neither did 
it originate the decay and physical death, which prey upon the 
irrational creatures of earth. These were their original inherit- 
ance. But the apostasy, which cast the moral nature of man 
into the gulf of depravity and the abyss of hell, the proper home 
of the rebel angels, at the same time robbed his body of its 
native immortality, and debased it to companionship with the 
beasts, which lie down in the dust and perish. As made at 
first, Adam's body was alike free from the power of disease and 
pain, and superior to the sceptre of death. Clothed in the like- 
ness of Him that liveth, there was no element of his being liable 
to the influence of decay, nor subject to the power of dissolu- 
tion. His whole body was redolent with the energy of an ever 
growing vitality, and attuned to the experience of ever present 
enjoyment, in the service and praise of his Maker. 

We have already alluded to the fact that man's nature was 
designed and constructed so as to shadow forth dimly, yet really, 
I 3. His gene- the relations of the three Persons subsisting in the 
rative nature. one di v i ne nature. In this respect the office of the 
first Adam was correspondent with that of the Second. He 
was the likeness of Elohim, God the Father, as the representa- 
tive of the Godhead, and head of the subsistence of the other 



138 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

persons. In Adam the generative function was designed as a 
means of revealing that mysterious generation which is in God ; 
and the breath of life was a symbol or type of the Holy Spirit 
proceeding from God. 

On this subject two errors are to be avoided. The one is 
"intruding into those things which we have not seen, vainly 
puffed up by a fleshly mind.'" — Col. ii. 18. The other is a re- 
fusal to receive those things which were written by the finger of 
God, for our learning. (Eom. xv. 4.) As to the manner of the 
divine generation, the Scriptures are silent ; and it becomes 
us, therefore, to lay our hands upon our mouths. This much is 
certain, that this most holy mystery is infinitely removed from 
any thing analogous to the manner of carnal generation, and 
that any imagination, even, which should attempt to trace such 
an analogy, or attribute any thing sensual to the doctrine, is 
an atrocious insult to the spirituality, the unapproachable purity 
and holiness, and the unsearchableness of the divine nature. In 
no form has the depravity of man been more signally displayed, 
than in the abominations which have sought apology or claimed 
justification from this ineffable feature in the nature of God. 

But, whilst we are thus solemnly admonished to " stand in 
awe and sin not," the fact that men turn the grace of God into 
lasciviousness, does not derogate from the reality and precious- 
ness of the grace. And reverence for the Holy One is not to 
be displayed nor cultivated, by closing our eyes or stopping 
our ears to any revelation of himself which he may have seen 
fit to make. u The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; 
but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our 
children forever," — Deut. xxix. 29 ; and it is as much our duty 
reverently to study what is revealed, as to acquiesce and adore 
respecting what is not disclosed. As we have seen already, the 
testimony of the Scriptures is abundant and emphatic, to the 
fact of the eternal generation of the Son of God, — a generation 
consisting in a peculiar, unsearchable and eternal communica- 
tion from the Father, and derivation by the Son, of the un- 
divided divine essence in which both equally subsist, and by 
virtue of community in which these Two are One. 



sect, in.] Adam the Likeness of Gvd. 139 

" The generation of Christ is a mystery so profound 
that it is dangerous for us to wade into this depth further than 
we have light from the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, let us be 
soberly wise in this matter. Let us rest satisfied in this, that 
we have the to otc, that it is ; plainly revealed; leaving the to 
ocotc, or manner how it is, to God himself, who alone hath the 
perfect knowledge of himself. .... 

n But tho' these things be so, yet some things we may safely 
adventure upon, in a consistency with divine revelation, to dis- 
tinguish the generation of the Son from temporal generations 
among men, and to prevent dangerous errors and mistakes, by 
explaining negatively what this generation is not. And let 
us endeavour to do this with reverence and godly fear, 

looking up to the Father of lights for light from above 

The most proper generation in things created is the vital 
production of another in the same nature. A man begets a 
son; that is, he produceth another of the same nature with 
himself. There is a communication of the essence of the begetter 
to him that is begotten, whereby he that is begotten partakes 
of the same nature with him that begets. So here, in this eter- 
nal and ineffable generation, the Father communicates to the 
Son the same divine essence which he himself hath ; so that the 
Son is of the same nature or essence with the Father. And, 
as among men, the son bears some likeness or similitude of 
the father, so, here, the eternal Son is the Father's express and 
perfect image and similitude, even ' the express image of his 
person.' — Heb. i. 3. Yea, the generation of the Lord Christ is 
the most proper generation, — a generation that is most properly 
so called. For, generation being the production of the like in 
the similitude of nature, therefore, where there is the nearest 
identity of nature, there must be also the most proper generation. 
But, here, the Father hath begotten a Son of the same indi- 
vidual nature or essence with himself. The generation of the 
Son must needs be far more proper than any temporal genera- 
tion of the creature, because it is in a far more perfect manner, 
and the identity of nature is most perfect."* 

* Wisheart's Theologia. Edinburgh, 1716, pp. 753, 754. 



140 The EloMm Revealed. [chap. iv. 

The considerations, therefore, which follow have no respect to 
the manner of the divine generation; which is absolutely unre- 
§4. Likeness vealed and inscrutable; but are strictly limited to 
w this reject, the f ac t of it ; as heretofore denned. In this respect, 
the nature of Adam was evidently designed to shadow forth that 
of God. That such was the intention of Adam's parental rela- 
tion to the race, we conclude, from several considerations. 

1. It is clearly indicated, in the fact, that the relation of Adam 
to his posterity is designated by the very name by which is ex- 
pressed that of the First Person to his only begotten Son; and 
the same characteristics and functions are predicated of it. Here, 
it is necessary to guard against an idea which seems to be com- 
monly entertained. It is imagined, that the parental relation 
happened, as by chance, to come nearer than any other to sug- 
gesting a just conception of the relations of the First and Second 
Persons of the Trinity; and that it was therefore adopted as a 
casual symbol of those relations. But the manner in which these 
titles, and the corresponding predicates, are applied to those 
Persons, forbids this conception. We have seen, that they are 
not casually used, in common with other designations ; nor is the 
phraseology ever of such form as to imply a figurative use of the 
names. But the name, Father, is the uniform and distinctive 
designation of the First Person, in his relation to the Second; — 
that of, Son, is similarly applied to the Second, in his relation to 
the First; — and the appropriated expression for the manner of 
this mutual relation is, generation. The fact that God has given 
man a nature to which these same terms are applied, is conclu- 
sive evidence, that man's nature was in this respect constructed 
as it is, for the express purpose of shedding forth the likeness 
of God. To invert the order, and suppose that the names, ex- 
pressive of these relations in the divine nature, have been bor- 
rowed from some distant resemblance, casually traceable in man, 
is every way grossly at variance with just conceptions respect- 
ing God and our relations to him. In particular, is it an entire 
oblivion of the great fundamental fact, that the very office to 
which man was distinctively set apart, was the exhibition of 
God's likeness. The whole creation being intended to reveal the 



sect, iv.] Adam the Likeness of God. 141 

glory of the Creator, man was formed as the crown of that 
work; — embodying in his person an epitome of it all; and espe- 
cially designed to be the official representative and likeness of 
God in the presence of all. He is so announced in his creation, 
and so proclaimed by his name. In his knowledge, righteous- 
ness and holiness, he displays features essential and fundamental 
to the likeness, but possessed by him in common with myriads 
of heavenly intelligences ; to whom he is announced as the official 
likeness of God. In this respect, they behold in him a pecu- 
liarity probably seen only on earth, — that he is a father of sons, 
with whom he shares in a common nature, which constitutes 
between them an identity, real, yet in perfect harmony with a 
distinct individual personality. To man, thus constituted, his 
Maker gives his own paternal name; and to his offspring, that 
of his own eternal Son; and designates the mode of the relation, 
in each case, by the same name, — generation. Can it be a 
question, whether the heavenly intelligences who behold all 
this, can fail to recognise, in the parental relation of Adam, a 
designed representation of that of the Holy One? — a represen- 
tation most obscure and distant; as must be every lineament 
of every creature, which is compared with his glory; — yet 
intended to serve as a shadow, in the veiled light of which the 
intelligent creatures might study and learn the ineffable lustre 
of the original: — "the absolute oneness of the race, a vast image 
of the oneness of God himself; the distinct personal existence 
of each member of the race as a separate force, and yet an inse- 
parable portion of the one whole, like a dim shadow of the divine 
personal plurality ; and the very form of the oneness, and the plu- 
rality of the divine existence as made known to us, the idea of 
eternal paternity of eternal filiation, and of eternal procession, 

exhibited as far as nature could, in the relations of this 

new race, — fathers and sons, in an endless oneness of plurality, 
endlessly united."* 

2. The Creator has invested the relation of parent and child 
with a peculiar affection and tenderness, of a warmth and purity 
which has no counterpart. To this affection, thus implanted in 

* Breckinridge's Knowledge of God, Objectively Considered, p. 452. 



142 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

our very nature "by God, he makes continual appeal, in express- 
ing his own ineffable love to his own Son. "This is my beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased." — Matt. iii. 17. By this love 
of the parent to the child, we are taught to estimate the divine 
compassion to man; since "God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life." — John iii. 16. Of the 
prominent and central position which these relations occupy in 
the whole scheme of God, we have already had occasion to speak. 
And the same argument, then applied, to establish the doctrine 
of the eternal Sonship, is here equally appropriate. Is it possible 
to account for the fact here suggested, upon any other supposi- 
tion, than that the paternal and filial relations among men are 
an adumbration and likeness of those in God ? 

3. Either there is a real analogy, however distant, between 
these human relations and those in the divine nature ; or, there 
is not. If it be denied that there is, it remains with those who 
take that ground to account for the style of the Scriptures on 
the subject. If it is admitted that such analogy does exist, the 
alternative is, that it was intentionally enstamped on man, in 
his creation, as an element in his likeness to God ; or, that it 
occurred by chance, without intention on the part of the 
Creator; and the illustration of the divine nature thence de- 
rived was an after-thought. 

4. The remarkable argument of Paul, respecting the decorum 
to be observed in the public worship of God, is directly to our 
purpose. " A man ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as 
he is the image and glory of God ; but the woman is the glory 
of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman 
of the man." — 1 Cor. xi. 7, 8. From this language, it is evident 
that the image in which man was created involved much more 
than that moral likeness which consisted in the knowledge of. 
God, righteousness and holiness. Certainly, no one will pretend 
that these are characteristic of man, in contrast with woman. 
The Scriptures give us no reason to suppose that the highest 
attainments in the moral image of God are not as much within 
her reach as that of man. The history of the world seems to 



sect, iv.] Adam the Likeness of God. 143 

show that, in the circumstances which surround us in our fallen 
estate, — and it is that of which Paul speaks, — piety is more 
congenial to the female character than to that of the other sex. 
In fact, the language of the apostle is unambiguous in pre- 
dicating the image of which he speaks upon the fact that the 
man is the spring and efficient cause of the race: — "He is the 
image and glory of God. For the man is not of the woman, but 
the woman of the man." 

5. The design of man's creation was to constitute him an 
image of God, with specific respect to his triune nature, of which 
the eternal generation is a conspicuous feature. This end is 
announced in the decree for his creation: — "Let us make man 
in our image, after our likeness;" and the distinctive relations 
of the Persons of the Godhead to the creation of this crowning 
work are plainly intimated in the narrative. "And God said, 
Let us make man." — Gen. i. 26. "And the Lord God formed 
man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life." — Gen. ii. 7. Here Elohim, God the Father, issues 
the decree; Jehovah Elohim, the Son, forms man of the dust; 
and the Spirit gives him life, as we have already shown. 

6. Our position is immovably established by the fact that 
the second Adam distinctly asserts the relation subsisting 
between him and his people to be in the likeness of that between 
the Father and Son. He prays "that they all may be one; as 
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be 
one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 
And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them ; that 
they may be one, even as we are one ; I in them, and thou in 
me, that they may be made perfect in one." — John xvii. 21-23. 
The doctrine of the mystical union will be particularly con- 
sidered hereafter. That the relation of the second Adam to his 
people is parallel to that of the first Adam to the race, is plainly 
taught in the Scriptures. The bearing of this language of our 
Saviour, taken in connection with that parallel, upon the doctrine 
in question, will be apparent to the reader. 

The phenomena of generation constitute one of those classes 
of facts, in respect to the works and ways of God, the familiarity 



144 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

of which blinds us to their amazing character. Because we 
§ 5. Wonder- see ^ daily exemplified, it does not strike us as at all 
fui nature of strange or remarkable, that the creatures should, by 
generation. generation, reproduce themselves, in offspring after 
their own likeness. And yet it is one of the most wonderful 
and inscrutable displays of the wisdom, power and exhaustless 
resources of the Creator, probably without example elsewhere in 
the creation of God, and explicable upon no other supposition 
than that it subserves the grand design of Adam's whole consti- 
tution, the exhibition of an image of God; — the lower creatures 
man's likeness ; he, that of his Maker. To attempt to search out 
or comprehend the essential nature of the process of generation 
were absurd; but there are some facts respecting it, which are 
self-evident, and which it is of importance distinctly to mark. 
When the lower animals were made, God said to them, "Be 
fruitful, and multiply;" and when man was created, he was ad- 
dressed in similar terms : — " Be fruitful, and multiply, and re- 
plenish the earth." It is not possible to explain this language 
otherwise, than as announcing the communication to them of a 
generative force, the cause of existence to their offspring, with- 
out further exertion of creative power. The correctness of this 
interpretation will scarcely be questioned; its verification is 
continually before our eyes. In respect to it, the alternative is 
to deny causation to the creatures altogether, and embrace the 
doctrine that God is the efficient and immediate cause of all 
effects. But what does the doctrine of propagation, here stated, 
involve ? It implies that all the powers and forces which are, 
or, to the end of time, shall be, in the living creatures, vege- 
table and animal, by which the earth is filled and peopled, have 
their origin in those creatures which were made at the beginning 
of the world, and were implanted in them, thus to be developed 
and perpetuated in their seed to the end of time. It is not, that 
the powers which are developed in the offspring, have a likeness, 
merely, to those of the parent. This would be, to attribute the whole 
matter to a continual exercise of creative energy. But the forces 
of the offspring are derived by propagation from the parents. 
Those very forces numerically were in the parents, and so, back 



sect, v.] Adam the Likeness of Oocl. 145 

to the original progenitors. This transmission and identity of 
forces is readily recognised in the case of an individual parent and 
his offspring. As we trace the germ, gradually expanding, we 
have no difficulty in recognising and admitting that all the forces 
which are engaged flow from the parent ; and so, until the 
matured embryo is separated from the body of the parent. But, 
when we contemplate the amazing extent and grandeur of the 
whole result, we recoil. And yet it is as undeniable, as it is in- 
scrutable, that the entire sum of forces which operate in the 
living creation, vegetable and animal, were created and im- 
planted in the primeval creatures at the beginning. 

In an able dissertation which was read before the American 
Association, in 1857, by Prof. James D. Dana, there occurs a 
lucid exposition of some of the most important principles here 
involved. To the question, What is a species ? this writer re- 
plies, "It is common to define a species as a group, comprising 
such individuals as are alike in fundamental qualities ; and then, 
by way of elucidation, to explain what is meant by fundamental 
qualities. But the idea of a group is not essential ; and more- 
over, it tends to confuse the mind, by bringing before it in the 
outset, the endless diversities in individuals, and suggesting 
numberless questions, that vary in answer, for each kingdom, 
class or subordinate group. It is better to approach the sub- 
ject from a profounder point of view, search for the true idea 
of distinction among species, and then proceed onward, to a con- 
sideration of the systems of variables. 

" Let us look first to inorganic nature. From the study of the 
inorganic world, we learn that each element is represented by a 
specific amount or law of force ; and we even set down in numbers 
the precise value of this force, as regards one of the deepest of 
its qualities, — chemical attraction. Taking the lightest ele- 
ment as a unit to measure others by, as to their weights in com- 
bination, oxygen stands in our books as 8 ; and it is precisely of 
this numerical value in its compounds. Each molecule is an 8, 
in its chemical force or law, or some simple multiple of it. In the 
same way, there is a specific number at the basis of other quali- 
ties. Whenever, then, the oxygen amount and kind of force was 

10 



146 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

concentered in a molecule, in the act of creation, the species, 
oxygen, commenced to exist. And the making of many such 
molecules, instead of one, was only a repetition, in each molecule, 
of the idea of oxygen. 

" In combinations of the elements, as, of oxygen and hydro- 
gen, the resultant molecule is still equivalent to a fixed amount, 
condition or law of chemical force; and this law, which we ex- 
press in numbers, is at the basis of our notion of the new 
species. It is not, necessarily, a different amount of force ; for 
it may be simply a different state of concentration, or different 
rate or law of action 

" The essential idea of a species, thence deduced, is this : — A 
species corresponds to a specific amount or condition of concen- 
tered force, defined in the act or law of creation. 

"Turn, now, to the organic world. The individual is in- 
volved in the germ-cell, from which it proceeds. That cell pos- 
sesses certain inherent qualities, or powers, bearing a definite 
relation to external nature; so that, when having its ap- 
propriate nidus or surrounding conditions, it will grow, and de- 
velop out each organ and member, to the completed result; and 
this, both as to all chemical changes, and the evolution of the 
structure, which belongs to it, as a subordinate to some king- 
dom, class, order, genus and species in nature. The germ-cell 
of an organic being develops a specific result, and, like the 
molecule of oxygen, it must correspond to a measured quota, or 
specific law of force. We cannot apply the measure, as in the 
inorganic kingdom ; for we have learned no method or unit of 
comparison. But it must, nevertheless, be true, that a specific 
predetermined amount, or condition, or law, of force, is an 
equivalent of every germ-cell in the kingdoms of life. I do 
not mean to say, that there is but one kind of force ; but that, 
whatever the kind or kinds, it has a numerical value or law, 
although human arithmetic may never give it expression. 

" A species among living beings, then, as well as inorganic, 
is based on a specific amount or condition of concentered force, 
defined in the act or law of creation. Any one species has its 
specific value or law of force; another, its value; and so, for 



sect, v.] Adam the Likeness of God. 147 

all : and we perceive the fundamental notion of the distinction 
between species, when we view them from this potential stand- 
point. The species, in any particular case, began its existence 
when the first germ-cell or individual was created ; and, if seve- 
ral germ-cells of equivalent force were created, or several indi- 
viduals, each was but a repetition of the other : the species is in 
the potential nature of the individual, whether one or many in- 
dividuals exist. 

" Now, in organic beings, unlike the inorganic, there is a 
cycle of progress, involving growth and decline. The oxygen 
molecule may be eternal, as far as any thing in its nature goes. 
But the germ-cell is but an incipient state in a cycle of 
changes, and is not the same for two successive instants ; and 
this cycle is such, that it includes in its flow, a reproduction, 
after an interval, of a precise equivalent of the parent germ- 
cell. Thus, an indefinite perpetuation of the germ-cell is, in 
fact, effected ; yet it is not mere endless being, but, like 
evolving like, in an unlimited round. Hence, when individuals 
multiply from generation to generation, it is but a repetition 
of the primordial type-idea ; and the true notion of the species 
is not in the resulting group, but in the idea or potential ele- 
ment, which is at the basis of every individual of the group ; 
that is, the specific law of force, alike in all, upon which the 
power of each as an existence and agent in nature depends. 
Dr. Morton presented nearly the same idea, when he described 
a species as, ' a primordial organic form.' 

" Having reached this idea, as the starting-point in our notion 
of a species, we must still, in order to complete and perfect our 
view, consider what is the true expression of this potentiality. 
For this purpose, we should have again in mind, that a living 
cell, unlike an inorganic molecule, has only a historical exist- 
ence. The species is not the adult resultant of growth, nor the 
initial germ-cell, nor its condition at any other point : it com- 
prises the whole history of the development. Each species has 
its own special mode of development, as well as ultimate form 
or result, — its serial unfolding, in-working and out-flowing : so 
that the precise nature of the potentiality in each is expressed 



148 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

by the line of historical progress from the germ to the full ex- 
pansion of its powers and the realization of the end of its being. 
We comprehend the type-idea, only when we understand the 
cycle of evolution through all its laws of progress; both as 
regards the living structure under development within, and its 
successive relations to the external world." 

After a discussion of the permanence, and the variations, of 
species, Mr. Dana concludes that " we should therefore conceive 
of the system of nature as involving in its idea a system of 
units, finite constituents, at the basis of all things, each fixed 
in law ; these units, in inorganic nature, as adding to their kinds 
by combinations in definite propositions ; and those in organic 
nature adding to their numbers of representative individuals, 
but not kinds, by self-reproduction; and all, adding to their 
varieties by mutual reaction or sympathy. Thus, from the law 
within and the law without, under the Being above, as the Author 
and sustainer of all law, the world has its diversity, the cosmos 
its fulness of beauty."* 

Implanted in the creatures at the beginning, by the creative 
hand, the forces thus described are seen operative everywhere, 
filling the earth with life and activity, and exerting a generative 
power, which, although occasional and transient in the indi- 
vidual, is unceasingly active and perpetual in species and races. 
Thus have we, in the investiture of Adam with the whole com- 
mon nature of man, its unfailing energy as an active force, and 
its amazing fecundity, as it flows from generation to generation, 
through all the myriads of the human family, communicating 
distinct personal existence and part in the one common nature 
to each individual of the race an image, inconceivably grand, of 
the eternal generation in the divine nature. Of that generation, 
as we have seen, the prophet Micah speaks in terms, the analogy 
of which to these facts cannot fail to strike the reader: — "His 
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." 
1 6. Definition The word, nature, is that by which we designate 
of nature. j^q permanent forces, which were, at the beginning, 

incorporated in the constitution of Adam and the creatures; 

* American Journal of Science and Art, 1857, vol. xxiv. p. 305. 



sect, v.] Adam the Likeness of God. 149 

and which, by their severalty, determine and define the seve- 
ral species of the living things. The word is sometimes defined 
inaccurately, as the name of a mere abstraction, which has no 
real existence; — as the designation applied to our conception of 
the mere aggregate of characteristics belonging to a given sub- 
stance. The opinion to be adopted on this point depends upon 
that which we accept respecting the reality of the existence of 
the objects of such general conceptions as those expressed by 
nature, genera, species, &c. On this, — the question agitated 
between the Nominalists and Realists of the mediaeval schools, 
— there are three several theories embraced by different classes 
of philosophers. According to the first of these, such concep- 
tions are the mere products of the imaginative faculty, — results 
of logical deduction from the observation of many like individuals. 
A second theory represents universals as being realities which 
have an actual objective subsistence of their own, distinct from 
and independent of that of the particulars and individuals. A 
third holds that universals are, in a certain sense, realities in 
nature, but that the general conceptions are merely logical, — 
the universals not having an existence of their own separate 
from the individuals through which they are manifested. 
The first of these is the theory of a certain class of skeptical 
naturalists, who reject the whole teachings of the Scriptures 
on the subject. The second would seem to involve the idea that 
each several species is endowed with a diffusive substance, out 
of which the individuals of the species derive existence and 
attributes, in which they live and move. The third is the 
scriptural doctrine ; according to which the substances were at 
the beginning endowed with forces, which are distinctive and 
abiding; and which, in organic nature, flow distributively, in 
continuous order, to the successive generations of the creatures. 
Of these forces, the word, nature, is the expression. In its 
proper use, it conveys the distinct idea of permanent in-dwelling 
force. It expresses the sum of the essential qualities or efficient 
principles of a given thing, viewed in their relation to its sub- 
stance, as that in which they reside and from whence they ope- 



150 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

rate. Such is the sense in which the word is constantly em- 
ployed in the Scriptures. Thus, — Eom. ii. 14, 15, — " When the 
Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things con- 
tained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto 
themselves : which show the work of the law written in their 
hearts, their conscience also bearing witness." Here, the 
apostle, by the word, nature, indicates a force within, which he 
otherwise calls " the law written in their hearts," the minister 
of which is conscience, testifying against sin and in behalf of 
holiness and God. Again: "If thouwert cut out of the olive-tree 
which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature 
into a good olive-tree, how much more shall these, which be the 
natural branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree !" — Eom. 
xi. 24. Here the idea of propagated and continuous force is 
conspicuous. So in Eph. ii. 3 : — "Ye were by nature children of 
wrath," — "nature," is the designation of a force which Paul 
elsewhere calls "the law of sin and death," (Rom. viii. 2,) 
which, by its perverse energy, is the cause of transgression and 
the curse. The word is not, therefore, expressive of a mere ab- 
straction, but designates an actual thing, an objective reality. 
Thus, the human nature consists in the whole sum of the forces, 
which, original in Adam, are perpetuated and flow in generation 
to his seed. And our oneness of nature, does not express the 
fact, merely, that we and Adam are alike ; but that we are thus 
alike, because the forces which are in us and make us what we 
are, were in him, and are numerically the same which in him 
constituted his nature and gave him his likeness. The body 
which is impelled by two diverse forces, x and y, moves in the 
direction of neither of them; but in that of a different force, z, 
the resultant of the two. Yet is neither of the forces lost; but 
merely modified, each by contact with the other. The new 
force, z, is simply x, modified by y. So, in the successive gene- 
rations of the human race, so far as their traits are the result 
of propagation, so far as they are the offspring of their parents, 
theirs are but the same identical forces which were in those 
parents, only appearing under new forms. The alternative is, 
that the generation of creatures is a creative act; that the rela- 



sect, vi.] Adam the Likeness of God. 151 

tion between parents and children is a mere fantasy, the former 
sustaining no causative relation to the latter. The word, 
nature, is used in the sense here stated, by Augustine, by 
Calvin, and generally by the old standard writers. 

That which distinctively outshadowed the Third Person of the 
Trinity in Adam's natural constitution, was, the breath of life, — 
o 7. The breath ^ ne a i r > a fluid, all-pervasive ; inscrutable alike in 
the Spirits its motions and influences; sustaining life, and 
image. essential to its support, in all its forms, in all the 

creatures of earth; and spirated continually from the bosom 
of man. That this fluid, thus related to man, was designed to 
image forth the Spirit, proceeding from the First and Second 
Persons, is demonstrated by arguments substantially the same 
as the chief of those respecting Adam's likeness to the Father 
and Son. The name of the Spirit, both in the Hebrew and 
Greek Scriptures, is the same as that of the breath of man, and 
the air. The wind is frequently employed as the symbol of the 
Holy Spirit. See the Song of Solomon, iv. 16 ; Ezekiel xxxvii. 
9, 10, 14 ; John iii. 8. Other arguments might be accumulated, 
were it necessary. We shall only add one, which is of itself 
conclusive. It consists in the unambiguous testimony of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. After his resurrection, he, on one occasion, 
came among his assembled disciples with the salutation, " Peace 
be unto you : as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto 
them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." — John xx. 21, 22. With this, 
compare the narrative in Acts ii. 2, 4 : — " And suddenly there came 
a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled 

all the house where they were sitting And they were all 

filled with the Holy Ghost." On the meaning of this remark- 
able action of the second Adam, and of the account of the 
pentecostal baptism, as bearing upon the present question, it is 
unnecessary to insist. 

Of the doctrinal relations of the features of God's image in 
Adam's nature, thus enumerated, some things will appear in the 
course of the following discussions. Doubtless, much, on these, 
as on all other points, is reserved for the revelations of heaven. 



152 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

Some of the natural attributes of Adam's soul were elements 
of the divine likeness; as, that it was an immaterial substance, 
a 8 Natural ^ G ^ ne Father of spirits, in having neither mem- 
attributes of bers, parts nor form; and that it was a living and 
the soul immortal spirit. Not that it was endowed with an 

existence necessarily eternal. This is an incommunicable attri- 
bute of the everlasting God. It is indeed a common error, to 
assume immortality to be an essential and inseparable attribute 
of spiritual existence. But that is, to make the soul independent 
of Him who "upholdeth all things by the word of his power," — 
Heb. i. 3; "by whom all things consist." — Col. i. 17. The im- 
mortality of the soul consists in its endowment with a life, which 
the declared and unchangeable will of the Creator assures of per- 
petuity, under his upholding power; — a perpetuity which he 
could as easily confer upon matter, and withhold from spirits, 
were such his pleasure. In this, as in all things else, the first 
Adam exhibits a signal inferiority to the second. Whilst, in the 
one, life was a dependence on God, in whom he lived, (Acts xvii. 
28,) to the other, it is "given to have life in himself." — John 
v. 26. In the former, immortality was possessed as a gift flow- 
ing perpetually from the upholding power of his Maker. Of the 
second Adam, the apostle adoringly cries, "Who only hath im- 
mortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach 
unto." — 1 Tim. vi. 16. Whilst Christ is "the brightness of the 
Father's glory, and the express image of his person," — Heb. i. 3, 
— Adam was a perfect but faint reflection of that glory and sem- 
blance of God's image. 
, < ,. . Adam was made in the image of God, in a moral 

\ 9. Moral _ ° 7 

powers. Rea- likeness; consisting in his endowment with moral 
son and con- agency, knowledge, righteousness and holiness; 
and in his position, crowned with glory, honour and 
dominion over the creatures. 

He was a moral agent. This involves the possession of 
the attributes of reason, conscience and will. The office of 
reason was, to discriminate among actions and things, one 
from another, the true from the false; — to recognise and trace 
the relation of cause and effect; — to study the phenomena 



sect. viii. Adam the Likeness of God. 153 

of nature; searcning out, combining and classifying their several 
processes and results, ascertaining their laws, and subordinating 
them to his service ; — and, at the same time, to ascend through 
them to the recognition of a Great First Intelligent Cause ; — the 
uncaused Author of all existence. 

Adam was endowed with a conscience, or moral sense. The 
primary function of this attribute of his moral nature was the 
perception of the loveliness, the moral beauty and glory, of 
the divine character. As he was enabled to perceive the light, 
by the sense of vision, sounds by that of hearing, and other 
phenomena of nature by the other bodily senses; so was he 
enabled to perceive moral distinctions — the beauty of holiness, 
and the deformity of its opposite — by that moral faculty, which 
has been therefore designated, the moral sense. It is to be care- 
fully noticed, that the character thus perceived by conscience, 
as belonging to moral dispositions and actions, is altogether dis- 
tinct from the sense of obligation to imitate the holy. In the 
order of nature, the distinction which is perceived by the moral 
sense, the beauty which is seen in holiness, is both independent 
of, and prior to, the existence of the obligation. The former is 
a characteristic of the nature of God. The latter is created by 
his sovereign will. The former is designed to enable the crea- 
tures to share in the blessedness of God, by appreciating those 
ineffable perfections, in which, and the contemplation of them, 
God's glory and blessedness consist. The other is designed for 
the further advancement of the creatures in happiness, and their 
endowment with honour, by the imitation of those perfections; 
thus enjoying them for themselves, and reflecting them on each 
other. In both, the final end is the glory of God, — revealed to 
the creatures, blessing them, and the occasion to them of ad- 
miration, happiness and praise. The second function of con- 
science was the recognition of the duty, imposed by the will of 
God, to imitate the perfections of his nature which were thus 
discovered. In the light of this obligation, holiness is called, 
right; as being conformity to the rule or standard of duty, — 
the holiness of God ; and unholiness or sin is designated, wrong ; 
as being deflection from that rule. The ultimate principles to 



154 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

which all the apprehensions and decisions of conscience are redu- 
cible are two. The first is, that the moral nature and attributes 
of God are infinitely lovely, and worthy to be admired of all 
creatures. The second is, that, thus lovely in God, and revealed 
to us, they are entitled to our zealous and constant imitation ; — 
an imitation, to which we are bound, not only by virtue of their 
intrinsic excellence, but, especially and authoritatively, by the 
will of God, our maker and sovereign. Of the authority of 
God, thus requiring us to imitate his perfections, conscience is 
the witness. In respect to the obligation resting on the crea- 
tures, its appeal is to the sovereign will of God, as the ultimate 
law, entitled to our highest reverence and implicit obedience. 
As to the propriety and beauty of the things thus enjoined, it 
points to the very nature of God, as infinitely excellent, in and 
of itself; and the ultimate standard of comparison, by which all 
moral excellence is to be determined. Thus, therefore, the single 
rule of righteousness, as attested by conscience and enforced 
upon men, is, — that God has a right to command, and the creatures 
are bound, universally and implicitly, to obey. Of this, the ulti- 
mate rule of morals, and of the principle whence it springs, we 
shall take further notice in another place. 

It may be thought a fatal objection to our view, that, in the 
case of infants, conscience clearly indicates its presence, before 
it is possible that the mind should have grasped the idea of the 
existence of God. We might insist that there is no propriety 
in reasoning from phenomena which are characteristic of unde- 
veloped faculties, in a fallen state. By the fall man has lost, in 
a great measure, that moral sense which apprehends the beauty 
of holiness. The principal function of conscience, as it remains 
in the unrenewed children of our apostate race, is, to attest the 
authority of God's law; rather than, to apprehend the beauty 
of his holiness. Viewing the subject in this light, the objection 
here stated involves no difficulty. The matter does not depend 
upon the recognition of the conventional terms and names by 
which God is designated in our theology. Were that the case, 
the objection would apply, as fully, in respect to the entire 
heathen world, as to the case of infants. But, in reference to 



sect, ix.] Adam the Likeness of God. 155 

the present point, the essential conception involved in the idea 
of God, is that of infinite excellence and supreme authority. 
With this, is associated the corresponding sense of obligation; 
that is, of the duty of obedience. To talk of the action of con- 
science, where these apprehensions are not present, would be a 
contradiction in terms. In the earliest period of infant moral 
agency, the parent is the impersonation of that supremacy, 
which is thus intuitively felt to exist. As the powers expand, 
the finitude of the parent is gradually discovered, and the con- 
ception of the Supreme is borne upward to the infinite One, who 
sits in the heavens; or else takes refuge from his glorious ex- 
cellence in some form of idolatry, — in the service of a false god, 
either imaginary or embodied. 

The view here presented affords a ready solution of the diffi- 
culty which arises from the manner in which, in our fallen estate, 
the decisions of conscience are found to clash. The clearness of 
the moral sense has been so obscured, its light so darkened, by 
the corrupting power of sin, that it is no longer capable of ap- 
preciating the beauty of holiness, or distinguishing with any 
clearness or certainty, as to moral phenomena, the good from the 
evil. Whilst, however, conscience is thus lost to its highest 
honours and noblest function, it still retains the indelible impress 
of the rightful sovereignty of God. Its decisions are always 
consistent, on the question whether God ought to be obeyed. 
The only diversity is in respect to what he has commanded. 
Once settle this point, — and, however the apostate nature of man 
may rebel, the answer of conscience is unequivocal. The chal- 
lenge of the apostles to the rulers of Israel will find a true re- 
sponse in the heart of the most reprobate: — " Whether it be 
right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto 
God, judge ye." — Acts iv. 19. 

In Adam, the dictates of conscience were infallible. The law 
of God was written thereon. That such was the case, appears 
from the terms in which Paul speaks of its traces still visible 
among the heathen world: — "For when the Gentiles, which have 
not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, 
having not the law, are a law unto themselves : which show the 



156 The EloUm Revealed. [chap. iv. 

work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also 
bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or 
else excusing one another." — Eom. ii. 14, 15. When was this 
law inscribed on the hearts of the gentile world, unless, in the 
creation of man? This is further evinced, by the terms in 
which God, through Jeremiah, promises to restore his chosen 
people from the ruin of the fall, and the condemnation of a 
broken covenant: — "This is the covenant that I will make with 
the house of Israel : after those days, saith the Lord, I will put 
my laws in their inward parts, and write them in their hearts." — 
Jer. xxxi. 33. When the ten commandments were given from 
Mount Sinai, they were at first engraven by the finger of God on 
tablets of stone; and, these being broken by Moses, upon occa- 
sion of Israel's idolatry with the golden calf, the law was again 
written on stone, by the hand of a mediator, Moses, (Gal. iii. 19,) 
under the direction of God. (Ex. xxxiv. 27, 28.) In these trans- 
actions, were typified,, the original inscription on the heart of 
man in his creation, his transgression and breach of it, and the 
divine purpose to restore it again, by the agency of that great 
Prophet, like unto Moses, (Deut. xviii. 15-19,) whom God de- 
signed to raise up ; and of whose mission and work the prophet 
Jeremiah speaks in the above-cited passage. 

In fact, we must either admit that the law was inscribed in 
the heart of man, in his creation, or accept the alternative, that 
he is forever independent of every law, and free to follow the 
irresponsible determinations of his own will. If, for one instant, 
he existed without law, he possessed, for that instant, sole and 
irresponsible sovereignty over himself, — an independence of all 
superior control. How, then, could the true and righteous God 
assume towards him an attitude of authority, which, by the terms 
of the statement, did not exist ? If man was not, already, by the 
necessity of his being, under the law of God, there could be no 
room for God's dealing with him in the terms of authority, by 
which he imposed upon him conditions of life and a penalty of 
death, in that transaction, subsequent to his creation, which re- 
spected the tree of knowledge. In other words, if man was not, 
in his very creation, subjected to the law of God, his original, 



sect, ix.] Adam the Likeness of God. 157 

native and essential attitude is that of perfect, unconditional 
and inalienable liberty. Enthroned in supremacy over his own 
being and actions, — he is a god; and Jehovah, by the act of 
creating him, broke the pillars of his own throne, and set an 
impassable bound to his own empire. No longer supreme and 
alone, he shares dominion with man ! 

The reader may, at the first glance, think these conclusions 
unwarranted by the premises ; and suppose, that even although 
it be assumed that, in the first hours of Adam's existence, he was 
subject to no law, yet, as a creature, he was bound to obey his 
Creator's will, as soon as it was ascertained. Let us allow for a 
moment the correctness of this reasoning, and see what it in- 
volves. Adam has remained for a season in the supposed state 
of unlimited independence. But now his Creator draws near, 
and announces to him a law, which is to govern his whole being, 
and control all his actions ; and we have agreed, that, by virtue 
of his creature relation to God, he is under obligation at once to 
bow in obedience to the law thus revealed. But does Adam dis- 
cover in himself a consciousness of this native obligation to obey 
God? Does he by nature know God, as his Creator; and his 
own relations to him, as a creature and a subject? If he does 
not, the obligation, which is supposed to rest upon him, must be 
altogether nugatory. It can neither enforce obedience, nor con- 
demn transgression. For a knowledge of the lawgiver, and of 
the relations upon which the duty of obedience depends, is essen- 
tial, as the first element in any obligation binding the actions of 
an intelligent agent. On the other hand, it being admitted, as 
necessarily it must, that a consciousness of these things was 
natively in Adam, constituting the basis upon which rested the 
authority of God's subsequent requirements, this admission 
carries with it a negation of the possibility of Adam having been 
left for an instant to freedom from law. As a creature, he recog- 
nises an obligation resting upon him; which, being founded in 
his creature relation, is parallel with his existence, mature 
with the first pulsation of life within him ; — an obligation to con- 
form to the law of God, as soon as revealed. But what is this; 
if it be not the very law itself? In what more comprehensive 



158 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

and specific terms can the moral law be stated, than that it re- 
quires supreme reverence and obedience to God? This compre- 
hends, in terms, the first table of the decalogue, and involves the 
second. If it be a duty to reverence and obey God, then it is 
also a duty to love our fellow-creatures, and respect their rights 
and happiness; as they are God's creatures, and possess those 
rights and that happiness by his gift. 

But this is only a partial view of the case. Whilst conscience 
attested the duty of obedience to God, the particular form in which 
the divine authority was asserted to and by it, was that of the 
requirement to imitate the divine perfections, which were per- 
ceived by the moral sense. And since God's nature is love, and 
all his dealings proclaim this perfection as that which is espe- 
cially set forth for the imitation of the creatures, the whole duty 
of man was thus set before him, in terms readily applicable to 
all the relations of life, whether to God or the creatures. Thus, 
it was the one and exalted office of conscience to proclaim and 
honour the holiness and sovereignty, and enforce the law, of 
God. With wakeful vigilance its approving smile greeted every 
act of holy obedience. Its stern and uncompromising frown 
awaited and condemned the first deed of transgression, the first 
thought of sin. 

The other element in Adam's moral nature, was his will. The 
faculties already described — the reason, and conscience — were 
designed to give him cognizance of things as they are. 
But the knowledge thus imparted was to the end, that 
he should occupy becoming relations to the things thus known. 
The recognition and embrace of these relations is the office of 
the will. The word, will, is sometimes used to designate the act 
of volition; and sometimes, the power that wills. It is in the 
latter sense that we here employ it. Its phenomena take their 
rise in the relations, congenial or the reverse, between man's 
powers and external things ; — relations with which, in his crea- 
tion, Adam was clothed. Thus, for example, his nature was 
characterized by an aptitude for certain classes of physical sen- 
sations, which, when they occur, are therefore embraced with an 
appetency, which we recognise by the designation, pleasurable. 



sect, ix.] Adam the Likeness of God. 159 

Others, on the contrary, on account of their uncongeniality to 
the nature, occasion necessary and involuntary repugnance, and 
are stigmatized as disagreeable or painful. Adam's soul, itself 
holy, found, in holiness and the Holy One, a correspondence with 
his own moral nature, which induced the going forth to them of 
his affections, in emotions of desire and love. To his nature, 
thus attuned to harmony with that of God, sin appeared in its 
true aspect of utter loathsomeness, inducing necessary rejection 
and disgust. The relations of affinity and disagreement, thus ex- 
emplified, were impressed on Adam's nature, when he was made; 
and all his faculties and powers, were placed in normal attitude, 
in respect to the various objects of these relations. These com- 
prehended all departments of the creation, and all spheres of 
being, relation and action, — physical, intellectual and moral; — 
all things towards which he was designed by his Creator to sus- 
tain any kind of active relation. The multitude of appetites 
and affections, which belong to man's nature, are these affinities, 
realized to the consciousness. The will is the soul viewed as a 
cause, acting under their control and guidance. 

What is here said, in respect to the relations out of which the 
phenomena of the will originate, is implied in man's investiture 
with powers. A power which should have no appropriate object, 
— an energy which should have no sphere assigned for its normal 
action, no proportionate end to be accomplished by it, — would 
be an absurdity, such as can have no place in the works of that 
only wise God, who has made nothing in vain. Thus, the af- 
fection of love has appropriate action toward the attributes and 
persons of the blessed Trinity; — hatred, toward sin and Satan; 
and so, of each attribute and power of body and soul. The at- 
titude of these powers may be normal, or the reverse. The ap- 
petencies or affinities may be in such an order and direction, as 
to fulfil the end for which they were given; or, on the contrary, 
in such, as directly to oppose that end. The attitude of the soul 
may be such as, spontaneously and with unfailing certainty, to 
act love supreme toward God. Or it may be such, that this af- 
fection shall flow in the opposite direction; and, instead thereof, 
the blessed One be visited with spontaneous hate. But, what- 



160 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

ever be the attitude of these powers of man's nature, his actions 
universally originate in, and are, in every respect, determined 
by, them. Hence it is evident, that, as these are, so must 
his will and his actions be. His actions are the effects of his 
will, — the exponents of his nature. The will is the soul, dis- 
posed to the active embrace of the affinities which it realizes. 
It is the nature, viewed in the light of its tendency to give ex- 
pression to the aptitudes which it intuitively feels. 

In discussions respecting the will, a great deal is usually said, 
about the influence of motives, in determining its action. Ed- 
1 11. Nature wards has much on this point; but entirely fails to 
of motives. bring out the fundamental fact, that, at last, it is 
the soul itself which endows the motive with the character in 
which it appears ; — that it is the nature of the soul which in- 
duces it to look upon this object with a complacency or repug- 
nance, which gives it the position of a motive ; whilst it regards 
another with indifference. So, it is declared by the apostle, with 
respect to temptations to sin: — "Every man is tempted, when he 
is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then, when lust hath 
conceived, it bringeth forth sin." — James i. 14, 15. To the same 
effect is the testimony of our Saviour : — " Out of the heart proceed 
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false wit- 
ness, blasphemies." — Matt. xv. 19. When the covetous desires 
his neighbour's goods, it is not the coveted object that creates 
the criminal wish; but the corrupt heart. The principle of 
action is the heart of the agent. The nature of the transgressor 
is the cause of his sins ; and those external things which are de- 
signated as motives are merely the objects, in view of which 
the perverted nature finds occasion to reveal itself, as it is, — cor- 
rupt. It is not the unhallowed suggestion that imparts the im- 
pulse to the soul, and impels the will; but the soul of the corrupt 
finds the suggestion of sin congenial to its own instincts, and 
therefore embraces it. 

Not only does Edwards ignore this principle, — he assumes 
ground altogether inconsistent with it. He scouts at the as- 
sertion that " motives and excitements to the action of the will 
are the passive ground or reason of that action; . . . which," says 



sect, x.] Adam the Likeness of God. 161 

he, "is a remarkable phrase; than which, I presume, there is none 
more unintelligible and void of distinct and consistent meaning 
in all the writings of Duns Scotus or Thomas Aquinas."* He 
assumes the only alternative to lie between the Arminian self-de- 
termining power, and the efficient influence of motives, acting 
as external forces, controlling the will. So far as we can dis- 
cover, Edwards does not anywhere recognise the distinctive 
nature of the soul as an efficient cause of the choices of the 
will. He assumes the existence of but two possible causes, to one 
or other of which all acts of the will are to be referred. 
Either, according to him, they are caused by the efficiency of 
external motives, impelling the will to action ; or, they are pro- 
duced by a preceding act of the will or choice, — the latter view 
involving the absurdity of a series of volitions without begin- 
ning. In this failure of Edwards to recognise the nature of 
the soul as itself the cause of its volitions, we have the occa- 
sion of the harsh and necessarian character of his philosophy, 
which is so inconsistent with the teachings of consciousness, and 
the tendency of which is so evidently antinomian and fatalistic. 
The immediate and inevitable effect of any system which locates 
the cause of volition or choice elsewhere than in the moral 
nature of the agent, is, to abrogate the law, and terminate re- 
sponsibility. It is because volitions and actions flow from 
within, with entire independence of any external force, that 
men are held responsible at the bar of God. 

On this subject we appropriate the argument of the venerated 
Alexander : — " The whole force which governs man is within and 
proceeds from himself. External objects are in themselves 
inert. They exert no influence; no power emanates from them. 
The only power and influence which they can possibly have over 
any man, they derive from the active principles of his nature. 
We are, indeed, accustomed in popular language to say, that ex- 
ternal objects excite and inflame the mind; but in philosophical 
accuracy they are but the passive objects on which the affections 
and desires of the mind fasten ; and their whole power of moving 
to action depends upon the strength of the inward affections 

* Edwards on the Will,, part ii. § 10. 
11 



162 The Eioliim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

of the soul. To render this perfectly plain to every mind, it will 
only be necessary to attend to a few familiar illustrations. 

"Toa man who is under the influence of hunger or thirst, 
bread and water are said, when seen, greatly to excite him ; so 
that he is strongly impelled to appropriate these objects to the 
craving wants of his nature. But every one sees at once that 
both the bread and the water are merely passive objects on 
which the appetite fixes. The real force which impels to action, 
is not, therefore, the external object, but the inward desire which 
is in the soul itself. For, where no appetite of hunger or thirst 
exists, the bread and water, however presented and urged upon the 
sense, produce no effect ; there is no motive to action experienced. 
Take another case. A man comes into a room where lies a pile 
of gold. Avarice urges him to seize the beloved object and ap- 
propriate it to himself. Two desires, or motives, counteract the 
tendency of avarice: one is, a sense of duty, or regard to the 
dictate of conscience, which he knows ought to be obeyed ; the 
other is, regard to reputation, or the good opinion of men. 
Between these two antagonistical principles there must, of 
course, be a conflict. If avarice be strong and the power of 
conscience and desire of the good opinion of men be com- 
paratively weak, the consequence will be that the man will 
put forth his hand and take the gold ; and at the same time will 
feel conscious that he is doing wrong. But if conscience be 
fully awake, and especially if a love of moral excellence and a 
hatred of iniquity have a place in his mind, this motive alone 
will be sufficient to induce him to reject at once the thought of 
appropriating what belongs to another. In this case, it is 
evident that the gold on the table is altogether passive : there 
is no secret emanation from the inert metal. The whole power 
of gold to seduce the mind to evil depends on the strength 
of the principle of avarice within ; and, in a mind rightly con- 
stituted, or under the influence of good moral dispositions, it 
could never so prevail as to induce the person to do an unlawful 
act for the sake of obtaining it. From these cases it is evident 
that a man is not governed by any influence from without or 
separate from himself; but that the true spring of his actions 



sect, xi.] Adam the Likeness of God. 163 

lies in his own inclinations and will, external things having no 
other influence than as they furnish objects suited to his appe- 
tites and other desires."* 

Edwards asserts that "whatever is perceived or apprehended 
by an intelligent and voluntary agent, which has the nature and 
influence of a motive to volition or choice, is considered or viewed 
as good ; nor has it any tendency to invite or engage the election 
of the soul, in any further degree than it appears such." "It 
must be observed in what sense I use the term good; namely, 
as of the same import with agreeable. To appear good to the 
mind, as I use the phrase, is the same as to appear agreeable, or 
seem pleasing to the mind. Certainly nothing appears inviting 
and eligible to the mind, or tending to engage its inclination and 
choice, considered as evil or disagreeable ; nor, indeed, as indif- 
ferent, and neither agreeable nor disagreeable. But if it tends 
to draw the inclination and move the will, it must be under the 
notion of that which suits the mind. And therefore that must 
have the greatest tendency to attract and engage it, which as it 
stands in the mind's view suits it best, and pleases it most ; and 
in that sense is the greatest apparent good : to say otherwise, is 
little if any thing short of a direct and plain contradiction. "f The 
tenor of the whole connection shows that by the phrase, "that 
which suits the mind," is here meant that which promises it 
pleasure. Thus in the same section Edwards proceeds to show 
what it is that makes an object proposed to choice agreeable. 
This he presents under two general heads. The first is, — " The 
apparent nature and circumstances of the object;" namely, 
"That which appears in the object, which renders it beautiful 
and pleasurable, or deformed and irksome, to the mind, viewing 
it as it is in itself;" — " The apparent degree of pleasure or 
trouble attending the object, or the consequence of it;" — and 
" The apparent state of the pleasure or trouble that appears, 
with respect to distance of time ; being either nearer or farther 
off." His second general head is, — " The manner of view," — as, 
"With respect to the degree of judgment, or firmness of assent, 

* Alexander's Moral Science, p. 109. f Edwards on the Will, part i. I 2. 



164 The EloMm Revealed. [chap. iv. 

with which, the mind judges the pleasure to be future;"— and 
" With respect to the degree of the idea of the future pleasure." 
Thus do all these particular reasons, resolve themselves into the 
one proposition, — that the pleasure anticipated is the motive to 
the exertion of the will. But here is overlooked the primary 
and fundamental question, — What is it, which renders a given 
object pleasurable or disagreeable, attractive or repulsive, to the 
mind? Certainly it is nothing in the object in itself; for, if so, 
a given object, presented to a thousand persons, would produce 
precisely the same effect in each instance. But, on the contrary, 
we find that the effect is as various, as the diversities of mental 
constitution possessed by the persons to whom it is presented. 
The reason, then, why an object is attractive to a given person, 
is not any thing in the object, absolutely; but the fact that the 
nature of the person is such as to hold a complementary relation 
to it, — the object, corresponds to the disposition of the person. 

But further, we object altogether to the assumption that it is, 
in any sense of those words, the good or pleasure which we 
apprehend to be in objects, which induces the will to embrace 
them. In what conceivable sense is it true that blaspheming 
devils and reprobate men are impelled to vent their curses, by 
any conception of good or anticipation of pleasure in them ? 
Were this idea true, it would follow, that man's endowment with 
a free will constituted him necessarily and purely a selfish 
being; pleasure his only motive, the gratification of self his 
highest and only possible end. A little careful reflection will, 
we are persuaded, satisfy any one, that, even where pleasure is 
anticipated in an act of volition, it is not as pleasure that it 
presents its primary aspect to the mind. In fact, the first cause 
of volition, in every case, is some aptitude which the mind in- 
tuitively realizes, toward the object. And it is this aptitude met 
and satisfied in the object, which in certain cases, but not inva- 
riably, induces a sense of pleasure ; — a sense, in the order of nature, 
coincident with, and not the cause of, the volition. Thus, a spirit 
of hell finds an affinity in his perverted nature to curses against 
God. Yet, certainly, whilst he yields to the controlling power 
of his fearful and atrocious hate, he does not in any sense, nor 



sect, xi.] Adam the Likeness of God. ' 165 

to any the slightest degree, look upon this as having a single 
feature of good, natural or moral, or one element of pleasure, 
either present or prospective. He sees it and knows it as what 
it is, — evil and only evil, and fraught only with added misery 
and remorse to himself. His curses spring not from any con- 
ception of the act as good or pleasurable, from any action of 
reason or conscience; but in despite of both, and by virtue of the 
perverted attitude of the soul itself, which finds the congenial 
play of its powers in evil and not in good. Pleasure is a sensa- 
tion arising from normal action or relations of the powers ; from 
the fruition or satisfying of an original and unperverted aptitude, 
physical or spiritual. Man's moral nature having been con- 
structed and all its attributes conferred, after the likeness and in 
adaptation to the service and glory of the holy and blessed God, 
and his physical constitution having been designed and endowed 
as the servant of the soul, in fulfilling this its great end ; it follows 
that the position proper to the whole man is in harmony with the 
nature of God, and in ministration to his glory. Abnormal phe- 
nomena could, therefore, never occur, either in body or soul, until 
man became apostate from God; nor from any cause except that 
apostasy, which constituted the assumption of an abnormal atti- 
tude by the soul, and caused the resulting perversion of the 
bodily powers; and, from the consequent judicial attitude as- 
sumed by God, withholding his smile, the fountain of pleasure, 
and inflicting his curse. And since it is of the very nature of 
holiness to produce happiness, and of sin to produce misery, it 
follows that pleasure can never be realized in depraved and sin- 
ful exercises, except so far as normal action or relations of the 
physical or intellectual powers may occur in connection with the 
sin ; which is often the case among men in the flesh, but never in 
hell. Hence, to speak of beings perfect in holiness, and yet un- 
happy, or, utterly unholy and apostate from their proper atti- 
tude and relations, and yet capable of enjoyment, is a contra- 
diction in terms. It is, therefore, manifest, that appetite, and 
pleasure anticipated, are by no means interchangeable terms. 
Only when the appetite is normal is the result enjoyment. 
Otherwise, its intensity is but intenser misery. 



166 The EloMm Revealed. [chap. iv. 

The freedom which, we have attributed to the will, from the 
efficient control of external objects operating as motives, implies 
§ 12. Freedom its independence of any authoritative dominion of 
of the will. reason and conscience. Not that it and these are 
necessarily or originally at variance. Their proper and original 
attitude is that of perfect harmony. But, as the will does not exer- 
cise any direct control over the testimony of these, the intelligencers 
of the soul; so, neither do they exert any controlling force to 
determine the action of the will, to compel it in one direction or 
another. The will is, in fact, the organ of the imperial power 
in man, subject to no law but the soul's nature, and consulting 
no authority but the constitution of that nature. Its decrees 
are sovereign and final; against which reason may argue and 
conscience protest; but which can neither be modified nor re- 
pealed by their authority. Hence that familiar phenomenon of 
the human heart, which is expressed in the well-known confes- 
sion of Seneca: — " Video meliora, proboque; deteriora sequor." 
Eeason sees the right, and conscience attests it, but the will em- 
braces the wrong. Nor is the remedy to be found in the sub- 
ordination of the will to the other powers ; but in the reconcilia- 
tion of the nature to harmony with the nature of God, the norm 
of excellence. 

That the will is not to be controlled by the reason and con- 
science, — that it is, with them, an independent and co-ordinate 
power, — will be made evident by a few suggestions. 

1. Such a constitution of man's nature, as had subordinated 
the will to the domination of the other attributes, would have 
rendered the fall impossible. It does not admit of a moment's 
question, that the reason and conscience of Adam, in his unfallen 
state, pointed infallibly to the truth and duty. If the original 
and normal attitude of the will was that of subjection to their 
control, man could have willed nothing but what was true and 
right. It would have been a natural impossibility that he should 
have sinned. If it should be said, that the fall was consequent 
upon the will usurping the sovereignty, and casting off allegiance 
to reason and conscience; it will be necessary to weigh well the 
meaning of the language. However justifiable its use in rhetori- 



sect, xii.] Adam the Likeness of God. 167 

cal discourse, it involves, if taken literally, some things which 
are entirely inadmissible. It would reduce us to the conclusion, 
that, by the fall, the very substance of the soul itself was 
changed. For, as already intimated, when we speak of the will, 
conscience and reason, we really mean nothing else than the soul 
itself, as it is capable of action in these various ways. They 
being therefore of the very substance of the soul, their relations 
to each other are characteristics or phenomena of that substance. 
Hence, to say that one of these powers, which was originally 
subordinate, has usurped the mastery, is, to suppose that the 
substance of the soul itself was by the fall transformed, — that a 
substance which was, so to speak, controllingly and character- 
istically rationalistic, had in some way ceased to be so, and 
become wilful. This is, in fact, to pretend that which God made 
to have been destroyed, and something of a different nature 
originated without a cause, and placed in its stead. Moreover, 
the usurpation here attributed to the will, if admitted, is the 
very apostasy itself, — the very thing to be accounted for. 

2. Any being in whom the will should be subordinate to, and 
under the control of, the moral sense and reason, would thereby 
be deprived of the essential characteristic of moral agency. Such 
a position of the moral powers implies that truth and right- 
eousness have in themselves, apart from any correspondence of 
nature in the agent, a power of immediate operation upon the 
active faculties of the soul. By virtue of the mere fact that 
righteousness is right, the soul would be constrained passively 
to conform to it, in its actions; even although the attributes of 
the soul were alien from it, and in harmony with evil; just as 
the plate of the photographic artist passively receives the traces 
which the rays of light make upon it. Man's actions would thus 
be under the control of a necessity, not moral, but natural; and, 
thus necessarily conforming to the right, would be without any 
title to the meed of righteousness ; since he could not do wrong, 
even if his soul were utterly corrupt. Actions thus necessitated 
would have no more moral character than belongs to the water- 
wheel, which yields to the current that flows upon it ; or the 
mirror, that faithfully reflects the features which the light traces 



168 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

on its surface. There would be no election, and hence the idea 
of moral agency would be precluded. Thus should we have a 
moral monster, of such a constitution, that, whilst his whole 
nature might be in revolt from God, yet, under the mechanical 
control of reason and conscience, his actions would conform per- 
fectly to the law of holiness ; and it would be impossible for any 
being but the Searcher of hearts to perceive the reality. The 
alternative would be, either, that, in failing to punish, the Holy 
One should accept of the outward appearance instead of the 
heart; or that, in punishing, the infliction should be visited on 
beings who, to all created apprehension, would be as righteous 
as the white-robed throng before the throne; thus precluding 
any revelation of the holiness and justice of God. 

3. Men are all conscious of such a freedom of will as is irrecon- 
cilable with the notion which we here oppose. In the ungodly, 
the will is habitually and consciously at variance with the truth 
and right. And, in the child of God, whilst this same per- 
versity of will is often realized, it is felt, that even when the 
will, the reason and conscience are in unison, this is not because 
of any force exerted by the latter over the will; but because of 
a harmony subsisting between the new nature and the holiness 
and truth to which the other moral powers bear witness. 

4. The manner in which arguments operate on the minds 
of men, is also conclusive of the freedom of will, which we 
here assert. It is not the expectation of any reasoner, who is 
at all acquainted with human nature, to influence the actions of 
men by appeals to pure reason, as such. Persuasions are indeed 
addressed to the understanding ; but only because that is the 
channel of access to the nature, by which the will is determined. 
Hence it is, that those arguments which appeal to the light of 
pure reason, are seldom effectual ; whilst such as address them- 
selves to the dispositions of men's natures never fail of success. 
A public speaker shall lay down premises of incontrovertible 
truth, and thence trace his conclusions by the most rigorous 
application of the rules of logic and principles of reason ; and 
yet utterly fail to move his audience. Another may start from 
premises which are palpably false, and proceed in a line of 



sect, xii.] Adam the Likeness of God. 169 

argument which has no respect either to truth or reason ; and 
yet bear his hearers with him in enthusiastic admiration and 
acquiescence. The former has studied the principles of truth, 
and the dictates of reason and conscience. The other, indifferent 
to these, has studied human nature. This is the field in which 
are tried and developed the skill of the pleader, whose business it 
is to operate on the minds of juries ; and of the orator, who seeks 
to guide and control the populace. By these it is felt that, in 
order to success, the appeal must be to the peculiar appetites 
and propensities of the several individuals ; and reason and 
conscience are no further addressed than as the nature of the 
party is supposed to be in harmony with them. In the variety 
of pleas employed on such occasions, the orator engages in a 
series of experiments, for the purpose of discovering and playing 
upon such notes as will arouse responsive chords in the hearts 
of his hearers. If they are attuned in harmony with the prin- 
ciples of truth and the laws of right, appeal is made to these. 
If the nature be debased, however clear may be the reason, and 
however faithful the conscience, it is in vain to appeal to them ; 
and unless something is presented of an aspect congenial to 
the depraved heart, the man will be uninfluenced ; his will re- 
mains unmoved. Nor is it inconsistent with this view that, in 
the preaching of the gospel, appeal is continually made to reason 
and conscience ; since, contrary to natural causes, the convincing 
and saving result is wrought by the almighty power of the 
Holy Spirit, transforming the nature into the likeness of God 
and harmony with the claims of truth and the calls of duty. 

5. Precisely here is that liberty which the Scriptures at- 
tribute to the sons of God. Says the beloved and loving John, 
"There is no fear in love, but perfect love caste th out fear; 
because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made 
perfect in love." — John iv. 18. Says Paul, " Ye have not 
received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have re- 
ceived the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." — 
Eom. viii. 15. " Wherefore," says he again, " thou art no more 
a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then an heir of God, through 
Christ." " Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ 



170 The Elohim Revealed. [chap, iv, 

hath made you free, and be not entangled again with the 
yoke of bondage." — Gal. iv. 7; v. 1. Reason and conscience are 
servants of the law, demanding obedience to its precepts, and 
denouncing curses against transgression. The will is the 
minister of love, in him that has attained to liberty ; putting 
forth its powers in accordance indeed with reason and con- 
science; yet not acting under their precept; but impelled by the 
affinity which the soul realizes toward holiness and the Holy 
One. And herein will consist the character of the holiness of 
the saints in heaven. There, the ardent affections will not be 
held in curb by tardy judgments issued from the tribunal of a 
written law. But the will, going eagerly forth on the wings of 
love, inspired by perception of the glorious beauty of God's 
holiness, will give continual expression to the instincts of the 
soul, attuned in harmony with the holy nature of God , — expres- 
sion with which the other moral powers will ever harmonize. 
Thus, their holiness is not that of thoughts and deeds doled out 
by weight and measure, in conformity with an extrinsic rule ; 
but, of affections and actions springing freely and spontaneously 
from natures conformed to that nature of the Holy One, from 
which the law is transcribed. 

Freedom, or liberty, is denned by Edwards to consist in one's 
" being free from hinderance or impediment in the way of doing 
§ 13. The Li- or conducting in any respect, as he wills." He hence 
beny defined, concludes, that " to talk of liberty or the contrary, 
as belonging to the very will itself, is not to speak good sense; 
... for the will itself is not an agent that has a will : the power 
of choosing, itself, has not a power of choosing. That which 
has the power of volition or choice is the man or the soul, and 
not the power of volition itself. And he that has the liberty 
of doing according to his will, is the agent or doer who is pos- 
sessed of the will; and not the will which he is possessed of." 
Edwards here evidently labours under a vague conception of the 
will as a limb or member of the soul, — something distinct 
from its substance, — instead of being, as it is, the very soul itself, 
viewed with respect to its capacity for putting forth the pheno- 
mena of volition. Hence, the distinction which he draws be- 



sect, xii.] Adam the Likeness of God. 171 

tween freedom of the soul and freedom of will is altogether 
inconclusive and impertinent. Further, the statement is not 
what it purports to be, — a definition of liberty or freedom, — but 
a description of a free person. And it is this inadvertence, 
which leads Edwards to the conclusion, that freedom may not, 
in accuracy of speech, be attributed to the will: — "A free per- 
son is one who has power to do according to his will; — the will 
itself is not an agent possessed of a will; — therefore, freedom is 
not predicable of the will." 

We greatly prefer the definition of another equally illustrious 
philosopher and theologian. "Long ago," says Leibnitz, "did 
Aristotle show, that in liberty there are two things, — sponta- 
neity and election; and herein is our dominion over our own 
actions."* Spontaneity and election, — wherever these coexist, 
there is liberty; whilst, on the other hand, should either of 
these be wanting, liberty is not predicable. Spontaneity implies 
that the action is not in itself necessary, nor produced by the 
efficiency of an external power; but has its cause intrinsically 
in the agent. Election implies the intelligent recognition of the 
alternatives of action and inaction, and of action in this or the 
other direction, — the power of conforming to either of the al- 
ternatives that may be selected, — and discrimination, among 
them, of that which conforms to the standard of reference, the 
nature of the agent. If this be a correct definition, the will is 
properly described as free. 

But, whilst the will is thus free, it is by no means endowed 
with that liberty of indifference of which Arminians speak. 
Whilst it acts without constraint, it has not that power of con- 
trary choice for which they contend. Its spontaneity is as de- 
terminate, and the precise manner of its action as certain, ante- 
cedently, as is that of gravitation, or the elective affinity of 
chemical elements. This follows from all that we have already 
said. If the action of the will be the expression of the elective 
affinities of the soul, — if it be, as we have endeavoured to show, 
actuated, not by external motives, but by the internal dispositions 
of the nature, — it will follow, that inasmuch as these are specific 



* Leibn. Tentamina Theodicsese, part i. \ 34. 



172 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

and precise in their character and attitude, they will cause, 
in the will, action determinate and correspondent with them. 
Most emphatic to this purpose is the expostulation of Jesus with 
the Pharisees: — "0 generation of vipers! how can ye, being 
evil, speak good things ? For out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of 
the heart bringeth forth good things ; and an evil man, out of 
the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things." — Matt. xii. 34, 35. 
Thus the will is the faithful and only index to the soul. The 
reason and conscience tell what is truth, and what is duty, — 
what is the nature of God, and what he requires of man. The 
will proclaims what the man is ; — whether in harmony with the 
other moral powers, or alien from them; — whether conformed 
to the holiness which he sees in God, or estranged from holiness, 
and enslaved to sin. 

Thus was the soul of Adam endowed with an efficient force, 
constituting it a cause, the effects of which were correspondent 
with and expressive of its own nature, — a force independent of 
any power but God, and of which his will was the expression. 
As God is, in himself, the sole reason and cause of all his works, 
unimpelled and unrestrained, in the operation of his hand, by 
any thing but his own will, — the expression of the perfections 
of his nature, — so, Adam, by his endowment with freedom of 
will, was constituted in himself sole cause of all the phenomena 
of his moral agency, and all the actions of his life, — his self- 
active intellectual and moral nature their only reason and cause, 
and his free will its efficient executive. This investiture consti- 
tuted one of the most striking and characteristic features of that 
likeness in which man was created. 

Such was the moral constitution with which Adam was en- 
dowed : — consisting of a rational intelligence, which was a faithful 
mirror of truth, — a moral sense, which, taught by the law in the 
heart, was a perfect guide in the path of duty, — and a will, 
which, in the original estate of man, was in perfect unison with 
the others ; and in every state, constitutes the index to the moral 
attitude of the soul, and gives effect to its aptitudes and affini- 
ties, whether holy or depraved. Adam's nature being formed 



sect, xiii.] Adam the Likeness of God. 173 

in the likeness of God, in righteousness and holiness, as we shall 
presently see, his will, responsive to it, was in perfect sympathy 
with the will of God. Placed thus in a native attitude of per- 
fect harmony with all excellence, he was, moreover, endowed 
with an exalted and honourable freedom from any irresistible 
control. His nature, although holy, was not bound by any 
extraneous or forceful constraint to the throne of God. Those 
affinities of his soul which tended upward toward God were 
indeed invested with the predominance. But there were other 
aptitudes in his nature, — to self, the world, and the creatures ; — 
aptitudes which were right in themselves, and, in their normal 
exercise, conducive to his happiness ; but which, if they should 
gain the mastery, involved ruin to man. His holy dispositions 
must be cherished in order to confirmed supremacy; and watch- 
ing and prayerfulness are necessary, lest the soul, heedless of its 
high calling, wander in devious paths, and become enslaved to 
grovelling and sensual things. " Man in his state of innocency 
had freedom and power to will and to do that which is good and 
well pleasing to God; but yet mutably, so that he might fall 
from it."* 

It has been intimated that knowledge of God and of his own 
relations to him, was essential to that obligation of obedience, 
§ 14. Adam's which is recognised in Adam. In fact, a know- 
knoiohchje. ledge of God, as the supreme and holy lawgiver, is 
necessarily implied, and lies at the foundation of our ideas of 
right and wrong, — the reference of our actions to a moral 
standard of judgment. And some knowledge, not only of God, 
but of the creatures, — of their several relations to each other, 
and to the Creator, and of his own relations to both, — was mani- 
festly requisite in order to the intelligent performance of those 
duties which Adam owed them severally. Accordingly, that 
such knowledge constituted an element in the image which shone 
in him, appears from the language of Paul, describing its re- 
storation in believers : — "Ye have put on the new man which is 
renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created 
him." — Col. iii. 10. There can be, in the same nature, but one 

* Westminster Confession, ch. ix. 2. 



174 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

image of the unchangeable God. It is here characterized by- 
knowledge; and represented, not as an absolutely new creation, 
but the renewing of that, which, traced in creation, had been 
defaced by the fall. Knowledge therefore constituted one of the 
original endowments of Adam. This further appears, from that 
pregnant passage in the first chapter of Romans, in which Paul 
proves the ignorance and idolatry of the heathen world to be 
without excuse. Rom. i. 19-28 : — "Because that which may be 
known of God is manifest in them.; for God hath showed it unto 
them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the 
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are 
made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are 
without excuse; because that when they knew God, they glori- 
fied him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in 

their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened 

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and 
served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for- 
ever. Amen And even as they did not like to retain 

God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate 
mind." Observe that the whole design of the apostle's argu- 
ment is, utterly to deprive every child of Adam of any resource 
in the fancy of self-righteousness, or the plea of ignorant and 
therefore excusable transgression ; so as to prepare the way for 
the offer of free salvation to all. Accordingly, in the application 
of this very argument we find him asserting (ch. iii. 9, 10) "we 
have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all 
under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one." 
See also the same chapter, vs. 20-23. The statements of the 
apostle must therefore be taken in as broad a sense as the con- 
clusions which he draws. Here, then, is a knowledge compre- 
hending all "that which may be known of God" by the 
creature ; — a knowledge condemning each individual of the 
heathen world without exception; and therefore common to all, 
and not limited, as some would wish, to their philosophers and 
sages; — a knowledge originally in them, but now obscured and 
darkened by their wilful transgressions, and preference of dark- 
ness and ignorance; therefore not fully realized in them as 



sect, xiv.] Adam the Likeness of God. 175 

individuals, but referable rather to their nature, than to their 
persons; — a knowledge the date of which is "the creation of the 
world;" and the discoveries of which are based upon the in- 
tuitive sense that the universe must have an author, and that 
he must be Jehovah, the eternal Grod; and which the apostle in 
the next chapter identifies with "the law written in the heart." 
How can the conclusion be avoided, that this universal cha- 
racteristic of man, which at once marks the dignity of his nature, 
and stigmatizes the heinousness of his ignorance and sins, had 
its fountain and fulness in Adam, — that what may be known of 
(rod was manifest in him, — that God showed it to him, so that 
by him it was clearly seen, being understood by the things that 
are made ? 

But, contrary to all this, by a popular commentator, Adam is 
described as "the first man, just looking on a world of wonders; 
unacquainted with law, and moral relations, and the effect of 
transgression."* Other New Haven writers speak in a similar 
style. The sentiment is at least as old as Socinus ; who, in 
proof of Adam's ignorance, cited the fact that he did not at first 
know that he was naked! "That is," says a quaint old writer, 
"he did not certainly know whether his own skin was his own 
or not; and was so silly he could not tell whether he had any 
thing over it!" 

But is this true ? Then must we go still further, and assert 
that the trees of the garden were no more than thrifty shoots, 
bearing only the latent germs of future fruitfulness ; and that 
the animals that received their names from Adam were creatures 
of powers as yet undeveloped, and faculties unmatured. If it 
be said that the necessity of the case required that the vegetable 
creation should be mature and fruit-bearing, in order to supply 
food for the inferior animals and man, and that for other reasons 
it was equally requisite that the animal tribes should enter on 
the stage in maturity of natural faculties; we reply that in 
reference to Adam there was in the nature of the case a still 
higher, a moral, necessity that he should not come forth from 
his Creator's hand a monster instead of a man; hiding under the 

* Barnes on the Epistle to the Romans, 1st ed. p. 115, (on ch. v. 12.) 



176 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

disguise of mature physical proportions the intellect of a sim- 
pleton and the soul of a child. Not only does there appear a 
moral necessity that Adam should possess full maturity, in the 
capacities and furniture of his mind and soul ; as well as of his 
body; but we have ample evidence that such maturity was his 
endowment. "Whence, otherwise, did he possess the capacity to 
name the beasts, and exercise dominion over them, as they were 
brought before him, and subjected to his authority? From 
the narrative of that transaction, in connection with its sequel, 
the introduction of Eve, and her name, given by Adam in a 
manner implying an intuitive knowledge of her origin, nature 
and relation to him; it appears that by a divine inspiration, — 
nay, by the very inspiration which constituted him a living soul, 
Adam was endowed with knowledge of all that it was requisite 
he should know, in order to fulfilling the duties required of him, 
and exercising the dominion which was bestowed upon him. 
How else shall we understand the providence of God, by which * 
he was immediately placed in relations so various, so complicated 
and so responsible? As a subject of God, held to a responsibility 
comprehensive of his being, and holding his very existence at 
stake; — as a social being bound in the marriage tie; — as a mas- 
ter, possessing the earth, and ruling the inferior tribes; — as a 
necessitous and dependent being, tilling and dressing the garden, 
and drawing thence his supplies of food, — he occupied relations 
rendering absolutely necessary a considerable acquaintance with 
the laws of nature ; and a full understanding of the moral law, 
in both its tables, of moral relations, in all their aspects, and of 
the results of obedience and transgression, in all their bearings 
and extent. Nor do we find reason to modify these conclusions 
by any thing recorded in the history of Adam. In the blessing 
passed upon him at his creation ; — in the designation of his food ; — 
in his introduction to the garden, and the precept respecting the 
tree ; — in the presentation of the animals and birds ; — in the in- 
terview with the tempter, the transgression and the curse, — his 
just and gracious Maker always assumes Adam to understand 
his relations, duties and responsibilities; and Adam responds 
universally and unequivocally to this supposition. 



sect, xiv.] Adam the Likeness of God. 177 

We have said, that, by the very inspiration which, made Adam 
a living soul, he was endowed with the knowledge requisite to 
his situation. That such was the faith of holy men of old, see 
the language of Elihu, in his remarkable apology for interposing 
between Job and his three friends: — "I said, Days shall speak, 
and multitude of years shall teach wisdom. But there is a 
spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them 
understanding." "My words shall be of the uprightness of my 
heart, and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly. The Spirit of 
God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given 
me life." — Job xxxii. 7, 8; xxxiii. 3, 4. It will not be supposed, 
that Elihu here claims that plenary inspiration by which the 
prophets spake. Plainly, his language points to the manner in 
which Adam was created, and life imparted by the Spirit of God. 
In this, he finds an argument of intelligence and knowledge, 
authorizing his claim to a hearing, in the presence of the patri- 
archs, to whom he justified the ways of God to man. 

Another line of argument will lead us to conclusions equally 
clear and satisfactory, in regard to the original furniture of 
, % , D , Adam's intellect. Words and language are mere ve- 

g 15. Proof O D 

from the use hides for conveying ideas ; and this by the associating 
of language. anc [ combining of idfeas already present in the reci- 
pient mind. Except as they serve this end, they possess no 
value, and exert no power. The narrative of Moses shows lan- 
guage to have originated with God, — its first use being the 
instruction of the newly created man, in his relations, duties 
and privileges, toward God and the creatures, the law and the 
curse. Those communications assume to address themselves to 
a knowledge and intelligence in Adam of the highest order and 
widest extent ; and if these were wanting, the language in which 
he was addressed could have conveyed no more sense to his un- 
derstanding than would the Hebrew of Moses to the mind of an 
untutored child. 

It is further to be noticed, that the sense of language is not 
diverse, but one ; that is to say, — a given word or single state- 
ment, occurring in a communication from an intelligent mind, is 
the expression of a single and specific idea, which has a precise 

12 



178 The Elohim Revealed, [chap. iv. 

definition in the mind of the author. However comprehensive 
the idea, however many elements it may contain, it is conceived 
as a unit, and as such imparted, through the channel of words. 
It is hence apparent, that language misses its proper office just 
so far as it fails to convey to the recipient mind the precise ideas, 
in all their elements and scope, of which it is the symbol in the 
mind of the speaker. Two things, which are diverse from each 
other, are not one and the same thing. If, therefore, the lan- 
guage used in any given case fails to exhibit a precise copy of 
the idea designed, it may serve certain valuable ends, by means 
of the inaccurate and partial intelligence which it conveys ; yet 
to the proper purposes of its mission it is a failure. It does not 
in the least militate against the correctness of this position, to 
urge that it involves the conclusion that human speech always 
fails of its end ; inasmuch as men neither can, nor hope to, attain 
to the supposed accuracy in the communication of their thoughts. 
The catastrophe of the fall has not left the understanding un- 
scathed ; and the language of the apostle is applicable, not merely 
to the things which were immediately before him, when he says, 
that " now we see through a glass darkly." " Now we know in 
part." Not only so, but however defective the skill with which 
man, even in his unfallen state, might have employed the instru- 
mentality of speech, no such deficiency can be presumed of God, 
even in communication with his most imperfect creatures. 

To apply these principles to the present purpose: — Here is 
Adam, with intellect and soul, just born of the creative Word ; 
presenting a pure and spotless tablet, ready to receive and radiate 
the softest tint, the most delicate line, traced there by the Spirit 
of God. Here is God, the maker of that tablet, the Creator of 
that soul, about to inscribe upon it communications embracing 
in their scope every relation which Adam sustained, every duty 
required of him, and every privilege he enjoyed; — communica- 
tions fraught with results, infinite for weal or woe, not to him- 
self only, but to myriads of immortal intelligences, his seed; — 
results, all whose infinite weight was involved in his clear and 
intelligent apprehension of the things addressed to him. Here, 
too, is the Holy Spirit, the official interpreter between the Triune 



sect, xv.] Adam the Likeness of God. 179 

God, whose messenger he was, and man, in whose bosom he 
dwelt. I ask, Had the language of God to Adam defined and 
specific meaning ? Was the channel of speech wisely constructed 
and employed ? Was it truly interpreted by the Spirit of Holi- 
ness ? Was a faithful copy inscribed on the tablet of Adam's 
understanding ? Or, was it defective and false ? In short, could 
the Creator convey to the mind of Adam the precise idea which 
he might wish to communicate ? And, if he could thus commu- 
nicate, did he choose any thing short of this ? And let not him 
who shall essay to frame answers to these questions, charge God 
foolishly. For the whole issue here is with God. Himself the 
author of the ideas to be imparted, of the relations to be ex- 
plained, and the laws to be enforced ; — Himself the former of 
man's soul, which was the passive recipient of the communica- 
tions ; and the inventor of language, the channel of intercourse ; — 
and the Holy Ghost the agent of communication, — if the ideas 
inscribed on man's heart were not the very same which were 
comprehended in the language of God. whose is the defect ? Let 
it not be said, that Adam understood, indeed; but partially and 
obscurely. Whatever the measure of his understanding, it was 
given by the Holy Spirit. Whatever the defectiveness of his 
apprehension, — however obscure the image of the truth on his 
mind, — what he saw was what the Spirit wrote; as he saw it, so 
was it traced by the Holy Ghost. Here then have we the 
Creator addressing the ear of man in words definite and clear. 
And does the Spirit interpret them to his soul, in terms vague 
and obscure ? God points out in words of weightiest import the 
path of duty and happiness, and the way of sin and death. Does 
the Spirit of God so translate these revelations, as to leave him 
ignorant wherein duty consists, — what is the happiness to be 
sought, the evil to be avoided, or the ruin to be shunned; " un- 
acquainted with law, and moral relations, and the effect of trans- 
gression"? His posterity now read the same words which were 
addressed to him, and find no difiiculty in apprehending their 
meaning ; whilst they trace in them the vestiges of an innocence 
long since lost; and the beacons of a ruin now too fearfully 
realized. And shall we tolerate for one moment the idea, that he 



180 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

to whom they were addressed, upon whose right understanding 
and correspondent conduct the destiny of unborn millions was sus- 
pended, was left in ignorance; — an ignorance enstamped on his 
heart by the very Spirit of light and truth, by means of the 
words of knowledge and life ; — an ignorance insurmountable by 
man, and therefore innocent; disqualifying him for the perform- 
ance of duty, and, by parity of reasoning, at the same time 
freeing him from the responsibility of transgression ? For if he 
did not, and could not, know what God required, he could not by 
justice be held to account ! We therefore conclude, that what- 
ever communications were addressed to Adam by his Creator, 
were comprehended by him in the very sense, and to the whole 
intent, with which they were uttered by God. 

Nor is it of any pertinence against this conclusion, to insist 
that it implies a degree of knowledge beyond the capacities of 
any creature ; because the words of God must all possess rela- 
tions, and have a comprehension, which is only within the 
capacity of Him who is perfect in knowledge. Words taken 
severally are not designed as descriptions of the things repre- 
sented by them, but as indices suggestive of those things. When, 
for example, we assert that Adam understood the threatening, — 
" In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," — we do 
not thereby imply, that he so understood the nature of the 
penalty of death, as fully to comprehend and exhaust its signifi- 
cance, as eternity shall unfold it. Such is not the manner in 
which, language is ever employed. I may clearly understand 
that the word, death, means the vindictive wrath of God, without 
pretending to apprehend the whole burden which that wrath 
will inflict. Every one will see the absurdity of pretending that 
the sentence, — "God is a Spirit," — does not convey a clear, in- 
telligible and specific idea to the mind; because no one can com- 
prehend God, or know, in a complete and exhaustive sense, what 
a spirit is. 

Having reached this point, let the reader turn to the book of 
Genesis, and examine the narrative there given, of the several 
communications addressed to Adam before his fall; and of his 
language and conduct during the same period. Subject these 



sect, xv.] Adam the Likeness of God. 181 

passages, word by word, to the strictest rules of grammatical 
interpretation, and, — whether we adopt the opinion that in his 
very creation Adam was endowed with all requisite knowledge, 
or, that the word and works of God were clothed with an illu- 
minating power, so that each word and each fact conveyed to 
his mind all that antecedent information which is presupposed in 
it, — the conclusion remains unavoidable, flowing from the whole 
scope of the record and each element in its detail, that Adam 
was gifted with a fund of knowledge sweeping over the fields 
of natural science ; comprehending the productive powers of the 
earth, and the modes of their development; the nature and 
habits, the qualities and uses, of herbs, plants and trees, of fish, 
animals and birds ; and, in the sphere of moral science, knowing 
as perfectly as finite mind can know the infinite God, as the 
triune Maker, Lord and Lawgiver of all; understanding his 
own relations to God, to his wife and their seed, to the world 
and the creatures ; knowing the law alike in the rectitude of its 
authority, the comprehensiveness and excellence of its precepts, 
and the righteousness and terribleness of its curse ; and appre- 
ciating the full excellence of the terms of the covenant and the 
richness of its grace. 

The knowledge, moreover, which we thus discover in Adam, 
was infinitely superior to any possible present attainments of his 
fallen posterity, in respect to the fact that with them there is no 
truth, in any even the exactest science, the glory of which is not 
obscured, in their reception of it, by the intermixture of error, so 
that, truly and strictly speaking, they, even in the proudest achieve- 
ments of science, at last know nothing as it really is. On the 
contrary, the soul of Adam being undefiled with sin and unbe- 
clouded with falsehood, and the Spirit of God his only teacher, 
whatever he learned, of God, his law and his works, was learned 
in its virgin purity and perfect truth. 

Such are the conclusions to which we are led ; — conclusions in- 
evitable, unless we are prepared to accept the alternative, that 
the pure words of God were to Adam mere empty and unintelli- 
gible sounds, mocking his unconscious ignorance and imbecility 
by a semblance of instruction which they failed to impart, and 



182 TJie EloUm Revealed. [chap. iv. 

by presupposing in him a knowledge which he could not pos- 
sess ; — that, unable to understand either the extent of his privi- 
leges or the nature of his obligations, he was precluded from 
using the one, and incompetent to sustain the other ; — that, thus 
incapable of perfect obedience, he was irresponsible for the 
failure; and that, by consequence, his fall demands our pity, 
rather than detestation, and the calamities thence entailed on 
him and his seed, whether viewed as consequential or penal, 
whether measured by that eternal wrath which God's word pro- 
claims, or limited to temporal evils, as false philosophy teaches, 
so far from displaying or being consistent with infinite holiness 
and rectitude in man's Lawgiver and Judge, are the climax of 
injustice and oppression ! Forbid it, every pious heart ! 

Eighteousness and holiness constituted additional elements in 
Adam's likeness to God ; as appears from the language of Paul 
§16. Righteous- to the Ephesians, in which he exhorts them to "put 
ness and hoii- on the new man, which after God is created in 
neS8 ' righteousness and true holiness." — Eph. iv. 24. It 

has been disputed wherein consists the precise distinction here 
held forth between righteousness and holiness, or whether they 
are not pleonastic repetitions of the same idea. Without at- 
tempting any very rigid discrimination, it may, however, be 
stated, that righteousness is that aspect of moral excellence 
which looks toward the law, and consists, therefore, in conform- 
ity to its precepts ; whilst holiness, in a creature, has its aspect 
toward God, and consists in adoring delight in his perfections, 
and in conformity of the affections and powers to his likeness. 
Adam's original righteousness consisted in the predisposition of 
his nature to an entire acquiescence in the will of God as sove- 
reign, — to a free conformity with whatever God required of him, 
and a perfect symmetry and harmony of all the powers of his 
being, adapted to the law and ready to fulfil all its precepts ; — a 
righteousness, this, inherent in his nature, and which developed 
itself in works of perfect obedience, the instant he entered upon 
the sphere of action. His holiness consisted in a conformity of 
all his affections and dispositions to the likeness of God as the 
Holy One, and an ardour of the whole being toward him as 






sect, xv.] Adam the Likeness of God. 183 

the consummate excellence; — a native temper which induced "an 
acquiescing in God as the supreme truth, revering him as the 
most dread majesty, loving him as the chief and only good, and, 
for the sake of him, holding dear whatever his mind, divinely 
taught, dictated to him to be acceptable, like to and expressive 
of his perfections; in fine, whatever contributed to acquiring 
an intimate and immediate union with him ; delighting in the 
fellowship of his God which was now allowed him ; panting for 
further communion ; raising himself thereto by the creatures, 
as so many steps ; and, finally, celebrating the most unspotted 
holiness of God, as the most perfect transcript of him, accord- 
ing to which he was to strive with his utmost might to frame 
himself and his actions."* 

The original righteousness of Adam is distinctly asserted by 
the Preacher : — " Lo, this only have I found, that God made 
man (Keb. Adam) upright; but they have sought out many 
inventions," — Eccl. vii. 29; language equally relevant to our 
purpose, though it be admitted that it is not designed of Adam 
individually, but of the race as generically embodied in his person, 
in whom alone it has ever been upright. His righteousness is 
also incontrovertibly implied in the attestation to his character 
uttered at the time of his creation. He, being made a moral 
agent, " the image and glory of God," (1 Cor. xi. 7,) was de- 
signed as the ruler, whose office it should be to control and use 
the other creatures to the service and glory of the Creator, 
whilst displaying in his own person the brightness of the Cre- 
ator's perfect image. If, then, the approving decision, by which 
God, as it was formed, pronounced each creature "good," was a 
pledge of their several fitness for the spheres to which they 
were assigned, — the final attestation, passed after the creation of 
man had crowned the whole, upon a survey of all the now com- 
pleted work, set the same seal of excellence to his nature, in 
view of the station to which he was destined. " God saw every 
thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good." — 
Gen. i. 31. Such language is an infallible pledge of Adam's 
perfect fitness for the place and office for which he was created, 

* Witsius' (Economy of the Covenants, book i. ch. ii. \ 15. 



184 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. iv. 

as the image of God, the possessor of the world and the ruler 
of the creatures ; — a fitness to which rectitude of nature and life, 
and holiness of heart, were undeniably essential. 

Another element of the image of God in Adam, was his 
position, in the dominion of the world and the creatures ; and 
I 17. Adam's that endowment of authority which they recognised 
dominion. in his person and voice. To man, at present, all is 

Recapiuda- -j^ revo it ; the result of his revolt from God. The 
elements assail him. The earth gives thorns and 
thistles for his toil. The treacherous air instils death in his 
veins ; and the animal tribes lie in wait for his blood, or fly from 
his presence with distrust and dread. But it was not so at the 
beginning. For Adam all were made, and to him assigned in 
the decree for his creation. The world's whole structure was 
framed for his convenience, and all its creatures placed under 
his hand in a dominion, the only limit of which was the ultimate 
sovereignty of the infinite Maker. The elements were in his 
alliance; and the earth brought in tribute the fatness of its 
virgin soil, and the spontaneous abundance of its luscious fruits ; 
Avhilst around him carolled the feathered tribes, and before him 
trooped the animal throng, yielding loyal allegiance and fearless 
trust. 

"About them frisking played 
All beasts of the earth, since wild; and of all chase, 
In wood or wilderness, forest or den ; 
Sporting the lion romped, and in his paw 
Dandled the kid ; bears, tigers, ounces, pards, 
Gambolled before them ; the unwieldy elephant, 
To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathed 
His lithe proboscis ; close the serpent, sly, 
Insinuating, wove, with Gordian twine, 
His braided train, and of his fatal guile 
Gave proof unheeded." — Paradise Lost, Book iv. 

Thus have we traced the lineaments of the divine likeness 
which was in Adam, as he came from the hands of his Maker. 
He was surrounded by every circumstance which could serve to 
signalize and proclaim him the tops tone and crown of the creation 
of God. " Created by the special council and care of the blessed 



sect, xvi.] Adam the Likeness of God. 185 

Trinity, he was made the end of all the creatures ; they all for 
him ; and, therefore, he last of all. He was, in a peculiar man- 
ner, formed to the glory of his Maker ; as he who, of all the 
creatures, could recognise, celebrate and respond to the wisdom, 
power and goodness of the Creator ; so that, without man, all 
else had been created in vain. He was an epitome and compen- 
dium of the universe ; representing the spiritual world by his 
soul, and the corporeal by his body. His body was formed as it 
were by the very fingers of God ; and hence was admirable in 
the elegant proportion of its members, in its elastic vigour, and 
its aptitude for the service of God and of the soul. His soul was, 
in its nature, spiritual, celestial, divine, indivisible, incorrupti- 
ble, immortal, akin to the angels, — yea, to God himself."* 

Invested with the choicest gifts, his body was the masterpiece 
of the material creation ; and his soul shone, in uncompanioned 
brightness, sole occupant of the moral world. Begotten by the 
Spirit of God, his endowments were worthy of his origin ; con- 
sisting in the noblest powers of intellect, and the richest re- 
sources of knowledge, the law of God written on his heart, the 
glory of God revealed to his conscience, and his whole nature 
clothed in perfect rectitude and spotless holiness ; and his free 
will, the efficient cause of all his actions, declaring the moral 
attitude of his nature, and proclaiming the affinities of his soul. 
His name, the organization of his body, and the endowments of 
his soul, the whole structure of his being, and constitution of 
his nature, had hidden reference to the coming of the second 
Adam. They were constructed, not only as a present irradia- 
tion of God's likeness, but in adaptation to that secret counsel 
by which the Son of the Highest was from everlasting ordained 
to become the Son of man, to assume part in man's nature; 
and, whilst hiding the lustre of the Godhead under the veil of 
human flesh, to constitute that veil a means of shedding forth a 
still clearer radiance of the divine perfections, and of displaying 
a likeness in which an adoring universe and a ransomed world 
should behold "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the 
express image of his person," — the "image of the invisible God." 

* Van Mastricht Theologia, lib. iii. cap. ix. 12. 



186 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. iv. 

Such, was Adam in the day of his creation. No immature 
capacities dishonoured his inauguration; no imbecile minority 
prefaced his reign. He was created a king. Majesty shone in 
every line of his face ; dominion sat enthroned in the expanse of 
his brow; and the lessons of true wisdom were inscribed in his 
heart. God's law was his counsel and delight, and God's glory 
his business and joy. Living amid a creation whose varying 
scenes and shadows were an unceasing anthem to the Creator, — 
whose whole frame was a harp, to be attuned by his fingers to 
still sweeter harmonies and loftier strains, — his happiness was 
in communion with Him whose honour he was ordained to shed 
abroad and celebrate. With open face, as man with his fellow- 
man, so conversed he with God; and, relying on the terms of a 
covenant "ordered in all things and sure," he anticipated the 
lapse of a little season, when, his probation ended, he should 
pass to higher spheres, and become possessor of a life and glory 
of which the dominion of earth and the habitation of Eden were 
but the faintly-foreshadowing pledge. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE LAW OF GOD. 

We have seen the successive inauguration of the universe and 
of man, as instrumentalities designed and constructed for reveal - 
l l. God our ing the glory of the Triune God. To the same end, 
Sovereign. anc [ s ig na lly important and luminous in the light of 
God's manifested perfections, is his holy law. 

It is evident that the exercise of a universal, absolute and 
unchangeable sovereignty, by some being, is necessary to the 
harmony and happiness, — nay, to the very existence, of the uni- 
verse which Gocl has made. The Creator must be that sovereign. 
No other being has one requisite for the office. The very act 
of creation, implying, as it does, some suitable end to be at- 
tained, brings the Creator under obligation to his own wisdom 
to give his creatures such laws as will guide them to the accom- 
plishment of that end ; whether they be enstamped upon the very 
essence of the creature, as in the case of the material elements ; 
attached to the organic structure, as in the vegetable creation 
and animal tribes ; or inscribed on the heart and made known 
to the understanding, as in man and the angelic hosts. 

We instinctively perceive it to be a matter of supreme obliga- 
tion upon every intelligent creature to appreciate and honour 
the Being by whose wisdom, power and goodness, existence 
with all its blessings was conferred and is continued. Since 
all that a creature has, whether of being and powers or of pos- 
sessions and time, is received from the Creator, and enjoyed 
from hour to hour as the gratuity of his bounty, — every one must 
feel that no obligation can be more complete or comprehensive 
than that which binds him to render his all to the Author of his 
being, — making subservient to this consideration every thought 

187 



188 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. v. 

and act, every emotion and affection of the soul; constituting 
the will of the Creator the invariable rule, and his glory the 
supreme and all-pervading motive. New relations may add 
new force to the obligations thus already existing ; but they can- 
not be expanded to any wider compass. All is already due; and 
beyond this no title can be extended, whilst less than this no 
possible circumstances will justify or excuse. God, our pre- 
server and benefactor, unfolds to us, in the daily exercise of his 
goodness, new arguments, challenging our gratitude and love. 
Yet these can demand no more than that entire devotion which 
was already the Creator's right, prior to any such experience. 
Were we to see a person in peril of death, from which we have 
power to rescue him, the obligation to use our power becomes 
at once complete. Should the party in danger prove to be a 
friend and benefactor, the duty remains precisely the same, 
although the motives of a common humanity are now enforced 
by the superadded claims of gratitude and love. So, we continu- 
ally receive from God benefits and favours, which add increasing 
force to a Creator's claims. But the right of God, as Creator, 
can never be expanded by any subsequent transaction to a wider 
scope. 

The ultimate sovereignty thus attributed to God as Creator is 
extensively denied. Particularly by the Iiopkinsian school of 
§ 2. Hopkins- divines are positions assumed, which are entirely 
ian theory. irreconcilable with it. An undefined and incompre- 
hensible something, known as "the nature of things," is supposed 
to exist, back of the very being of God himself, and independent 
of him; which constitutes the ultimate rule, endowed with su- 
preme obligation alike over God and the creatures; conformity 
with which constitutes God the Holy One, and deflection from 
which would abrogate his authority. Both Edwards and Bel- 
lamy, whilst they would have recoiled with indignation from the 
style of expression, often used by later writers, seem essentially 
to have held this opinion. Bellamy says that God by his infinite 
understanding "is perfectly acquainted with himself and with 
all his intelligent creatures; and so, perfectly knows what con- 
duct in him toward them is right, fit and amiable, and such as 



sect, i.] The Lent- of God. 189 

becomes such a one as he is ; and also perfectly knows what con- 
duct in his creatures towards him, and towards each other ; is fit 
and amiable, and so their duty. He sees what is right, and in- 
finitely loves it, because it is right. He sees what is wrong, and 
infinitelv hates it, because it is wrong; and in his whole conduct 
as Governor of the world, he appears to be just what he is at 
heart, — an infinite friend to right, and an infinite enemy to 
wrong/' "As to all his positive injunctions, they are evidently 
designed to promote a conformity to the moral law. And as to 
the moral law, it is originally founded upon the very reason and 
nature of things. The duties required therein are required, ori- 
ginally, because they are right in themselves. And the sins for- 
bidden, are forbidden, originally, because they are unfit and 
wrong in themselves. The intrinsic fitness of the things required, 
and the intrinsic unfitness of the things forbidden, was the ori- 
ginal ground, reason and foundation of the law."* 

To the same purpose is the language of Edwards. ''There is 
a circumstantial difference between the moral agency of a ruler 
and a subject. I call it circumstantial, because it lies only in 
the difference of moral inducements they are capable of being 
influenced by, arising from the difference of circumstances. A 
ruler, acting in that capacity only, is not capable of being influ- 
enced by a moral law, and its sanctions of threatenings and pro- 
mises, rewards and punishments, as the subject is; though both 
may be influenced by a knowledge of moral good and evil. And 
therefore the moral agency of the Supreme Being, who acts 
only in the capacity of a ruler towards his creatures, and never 
as a subject, differs in that respect from the moral agency of 
created, intelligent beings. God's actions, and particularly those 
which are to be attributed to him as moral governor, are morally 
good in the highest degree. They are most perfectly holy and 
righteous ; and we must conceive of Him as influenced in the 
highest degree, by that which above all others is properly a 
moral inducement, viz., the moral good which He sees in such 



- 



and such things : and therefore He is, in the proper sense, a 



* Bellamy's True Religion Delineated, sect. 2. 



190 The Eldhim Revealed. [chap. v. 

moral agent, the source of all moral ability and agency, the 
fountain and rule of all virtue and moral good ; though by reason 
of his being supreme over all, it is not possible He should be 
under the influence of law or command, promises or threatenings, 
rewards or punishments, counsels or warnings. The essential 
qualities of a moral agent are in God, in the greatest possible 
perfection; such as, understanding to perceive the difference 
between moral good and evil; a capacity of discerning that 
moral worthiness and demerit, by which some things are praise- 
worthy, others deserving of blame and punishment; and also a 
capacity of choice, and choice guided by understanding, and a 
power of acting according to his choice or pleasure, and being 
capable of doing those things which are in the highest sense 
praiseworthy."* Later divines of the Hopkinsian school, have 
taught, in addition, that, "as moral agents, we are capable of 
knowing the relation in which we stand to our Creator and 
moral Governor, and how he ought to treat us," and "when his 
treatment of us is just and right." Of this theory, Dr. Edward 
Beecher will, after a little, present abundant illustration. 

These doctrines seem to have gained nearly universal cur- 
rency in the Congregational churches ; and are admitted to the 
position of unquestioned and ultimate truths. It has long been 
occasion of painful surprise to those who love the doctrines of 
the Reformation, that those churches have shown a tendency, so 
general, to depart from the faith which their fathers cherished, 
and, in defence of which, they endured persecution and exile; — 
that the scriptural doctrines of their ancient confession have 
so slight a hold on the sons of the pilgrims ; whilst every new 
form of error finds a cordial welcome and congenial home. 
We think reflection must convince the intelligent and candid 
mind, that the dogmas which we have just enumerated consti- 
tute one leading element in the clew to the mystery. These, 
releasing the minds of men from the restraints of God's law, 
refer them to "the light of reason," and "the nature of things," 
to know what is truth and duty. It is, therefore, no wonder, 

* Edwards on the Will, Part I. sect. 5. 



sect, ii.] The Law of God. 191 

that the theology of Calvin, of Augustine and Paul, the motto 
of which is, "Faith before reason," should be rejected, the ra- 
tionalism of Pelagius be embraced, and the atheistic tendencies 
thereto appropriate be developed. It is no wonder, that, — the 
lamp of truth, the word of God, being disparaged, and reason 
enthroned in a proud self-sufficiency, — men should be left to 
wild and fanatical aberrations from the path of reason, and an 
utter obscuration of the light of truth. 

The authority of the " nature of things" is fully set forth 
by the author of " The Conflict of Ages," who, by its aid, has 
b 3 Beecher's attempted in that work the tremendous task of sup- 
« Conflict of piemen ting the Scriptures on the subject of original 
Ages." gm> ^g ^g wor k of Dr. Beecher is a recent and 

elaborate exposition and vindication of this doctrine, we will 
examine some of his leading positions. In laying down his fun- 
damental principles, he asks, " How could we ever correctly judge 
of the honour or rectitude of God's conduct, if the standard of ho- 
nour and rectitude revealed by him, in the structure of our minds, 
did not agree with his own standard on the same points ? Such a 
state of things would lay the foundation of necessary and eternal 
discord between him and us, and that on the most important of 
all practical questions. We must, therefore, of necessity assume 
not only that there are judgments concerning honour and right 
which God has made the human mind to form with intuitive cer- 
tainty, but that they are common to God and to man. This is a 
fundamental doctrine of the Bible. To test any alleged acts of 
God by such principles, is not improper rationalizing. God not 
only authorizes it, but even enjoins it as a sacred duty. To 
this point I call special attention. 

" It is no less plain that, whatever these principles are, their 
authority is supreme. No considerations of mere expediency or 
policy, whether individual or general, if opposed to them, ought 
to have any force; nor with God can they have any force. 
Though there is above him neither judge nor judgment to which 
he is responsible, yet he has in his own mind an eternal and im- 
mutable law of honour and right, which he cannot disregard; and 
he is his own omniscient judge. Should he not follow his own 



192 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. v. 

convictions of honour and of right, he could not retain his own 
self-respect, but would experience infinite self-condemnation and 
remorse : he would be the most miserable being in the universe. 
It is, therefore, an infinite necessity in God's own nature, that 
he should obey the laws of honour and of right; and beyond all 
doubt he ever has and ever will."* 

"What, then, are the principles of honour and right on the va- 
rious points which we have specified ?"f In answer to this ques- 
tion, Dr. Beecher proceeds through half a dozen pages to enume- 
rate and expound as many different principles, which constitute 
the fundamental axiomata of his work. Our present remarks will 
relate to the bearing of this doctrine upon the authority of God, 
and the origin of moral distinctions. Another phase of the same 
doctrine will hereafter be considered in connection with the per- 
mission of moral evil in the world. 

It is not unusual or improper to speak of God being bound to 
one or other of his attributes, when all that is meant is, that 
the given attribute, being a characteristic of the divine nature, 
involves the certainty that he will act in accordance with it. 
So also the phrase, " a necessity of the divine nature," by which 
is meant no control over the divine freedom, but the certainty 
by which we know that the Holy One will act in accordance 
with his holiness or other attributes; that is, will be himself. 
All such forms of expression are, however, to be confined 
within limits consistent with the constant recognition of the 
cardinal fact that the attributes thus signalized are but so many 
aspects in which God, in consideration of our infirm and limited 
capacities, has condescended to unfold to us the glory of his in- 
divisible essence. The justice of God is not something inhering 
in the divine nature and having a subsistence distinct from his 
love, wisdom or power. It is nothing but the unity of the 
divine nature, viewed in one of its relations to the actions of 
accountable creatures. His power and wisdom are that nature 
viewed in certain relations to the creation and government of 
his works. And so of the other attributes. So also the names 
of God, and the various titles which he assumes, are designations 

* Conflict of Ages, p. 27. f Ibid. p. 31. 



sect, in.] The Law of God. 193 

to be used under similar limitation. This enunciation of an ele- 
mentary truth in mental philosophy and theology may be 
thought superfluous here. And yet, undoubtedly, the statements 
above quoted are founded in, and derive their whole plausibility 
from, an entire forgetfulness of it. It is impossible to reduce them 
to terms of this principle, which shall not present them in direct 
contradiction and naked absurdity. Look, for example, at the 
second paragraph of the quotations above cited : — " It is no less 
plain that, whatever these principles are, their authority is 
supreme," &c. The only interpretation which can save this lan- 
guage from a reduction to atheism, is that which would explain 
the phrase, " an eternal and immutable law of honour and right," 
to mean nothing but the divine holiness ; that is, in other words, 
the essential nature of God himself; to which also the pronoun 
" he" refers. But this converts the whole into a jumble of non- 
sense, whilst it very partially relieves it of the irreverence 
which stands out so conspicuously on the face of the passage. 
By the phrase, "the principles of honour and right," how- 
ever, the writer does not design to signify the nature or essence 
of God. They are certain " rules," "dictates," or "laws," of 
which he predicates the following characteristics : — 

1. They are reducible to formal statement. The author enu- 
merates six of them. 

2. They are of supreme and controlling obligation over all 
intelligent beings, including God himself. " Does any one allege 
his right as Creator to do as he will with his creatures ? Within 
certain limits he has this right. But creation gives no right to 
the Creator to disregard or to undervalue the well-being of 
creatures, or to treat them contrary to the laws of their intel- 
lectual, moral and voluntary nature, on the ground that he 
created them."* 

3. The obligations which they impose upon God and the 
creatures are alike and in common. " Some, when pressed by 
their application to certain alleged acts of God, have denied that 
they are common alike to God and to man, and alike binding on 



* Conflict, p. 32. 
13 



194 The Eloliim Revealed, [chap. v. 

both. Concerning this view, I would say with emphasis, that it 
is a most unfounded and pernicious position."* 

4. They are enforced by penal sanctions, of a competence to 
reach even to God himself. See the language already quoted : — 
" He is his own omniscient judge," &c. 

5. Whilst man himself is to be tried by them, he, in turn, is 
bound by them to judge his Creator. " God himself enjoins it 
on men, as a sacred duty, to judge by them. He does not feel 
honoured by any defence which disregards them. Nay, he admits 
that his own conduct is amenable to judgment by these prin- 
ciples, and defends himself by an appeal to the same." "To test 
any alleged acts of God by such principles, is not improper 
rationalizing. God not only authorizes, but even enjoins it as a 
sacred duty. To this point I call special attention, "f 

It is to be observed in regard to these propositions, that not 
only the phrases used to designate the "principles," "dictates," 
•6 4. He sets or "laws," but every position assumed respecting 
fate above them, implies an origin and existence independent 
God ' of Jehovah, and an endowment of supremacy over 

him. They are not principles decreed in sovereignty and free- 
dom by the Creator, for the ordering of his works, and the 
guidance of his creatures; but such as even creative authority 
is not entitled to disregard. Only "within certain limits" — the 
limits of these principles — "has he a right to do what he will 
with his own." A necessity is laid upon him, if he form creation 
at all, to form and govern it by these rules, under penalty of 
self-reproach and misery, and the insubordination of the crea- 
tures, — "necessary and eternal discord between him and us; 
and that on the most important of all practical questions." But 
who is that Supreme, by whom these laws are ordained, and this 
penalty inflicted; and before whose bar mortals are required to 
cite God to account? Who fixed it so that " God ought to be 
regulated in his dealings with his creatures" by these principles; 
so that he as Creator "has no right" to go beyond the bound- 
aries thus set to him? If it. is pretended that God himself is 
the author of this law, we then ask, — How is it any thing else 
* Conflict, p. 26. f Ibid. pp. 26, 27. 



sect, in.] The Law of God. 195 

than absurd, to suppose him under a necessary obligation to a 
law of his own ordaining ; in the light of which he is viewed as 
at once lawgiver and transgressor, judge, executioner and victim; 
inflicting on himself a penalty described in terms too shocking to 
repeat ? Let it not be argued, that the case is an impossible one ; 
— that "it is an infinite necessity in (rod's nature, that he should 
obey the laws of honour and right;" and that therefore the theory 
is not responsible for the contradictions thus indicated. The ne- 
cessity thus asserted, is, not only in the nature of the case, but in 
terms, defined to be a penal necessity. "It is, therefore" — be- 
cause, "should he not follow his own convictions of honour and 
right, he could not retain his own self-respect," &c. — u therefore ," 
the necessity above stated. The case, then, of transgression, and 
the consequent relation of God to himself, as judge and defendant, 
executioner and victim, is not only supposable, but is actually 
supposed, as the alternative in the law, — as the argument en- 
forcing obedience. The authority which imposes these obliga- 
tions on the Holy One, is said to be " in his own mind, an eter- 
nal and immutable law of honour and right." Is this at all 
distinguishable from the grossest form of stoical philosophy, 
which described Jove as ruling in subordination to an eternal 
fate, in accordance with which Herodotus does not shrink from 
saying that "Jove himself could not avoid his destiny"? Pre- 
ferable even, is the language of Seneca : — Eadem necessitas et 
Deos alligat ; irrevocabilis divina pariter, atque humana cursus 
vehit. Hie ipse, omnium conditor ac rector, scripsit quidem 
Fata, sed sequitur. Semper paret; semel jussit. "The same 
necessity binds even the Gods ; inevitable destiny bears along 
every thing, alike divine and human. The Creator and ruler of 
all, himself, indeed, inscribed the Fates ; but follows their gui- 
dance. Forever he obeys; once only he decreed."* 

Whilst God is exhibited, in this scheme, in the bonds of some 
fatal Destiny, or superior God; on the other hand, man is by it 
1 5. This doc- released from subjection to his authority. He may 
trine infidel. appeal from God to himself; from the decrees of his 
Maker, to an ultimate arbiter, which sits enthroned in his own 

* Opera L. Annsei Senecse Lib. De Providentia, cap. v. 



196 The EloMm Revealed. [chap. v. 

bosom, in the form of the intuitive principles of honour and 
right. "They are common alike to God and to man, and alike 
binding on both." " Their authority is supreme." By them it 
is a "sacred duty" to test the character and conduct of God. 
The law and word of God is thus denied to possess any authority 
in itself. Only as far as it may be found in harmony with the 
eternal principles is it to be obeyed. Thus have we followed 
these vaunted principles to their legitimate termination in the 
dark abyss of atheism. Any obligations still recognised as due 
to God, are strictly mutual; as is the accountability; and to 
say, after this, that we are still held bound to obey the Almighty, 
is a mere deception. Not he, but the omnipotent principles, are 
to be obeyed; and should Jehovah be imagined by the miserable 
worm, who thus assumes the office of inquisitor and judge toward 
his Creator, to have violated those principles, — and of this, man 
is the judge, — what becomes his duty then? True, our author 
does not admit the possibility of such conclusions. True, he 
asserts, with the utmost confidence, that "beyond all doubt he 
ever has and ever will obey the laws of honour and right." But 
where did he acquire this confidence? Certainly not in the study 
of those "laws." The doctrine of our author renders it forever 
impossible that the creatures should be assured of the perfection 
of the Most High. A perfection which consists in conformity 
to a prescribed standard is the contradictory of perfection per se. 
It is a contingent and not a necessary perfection; and can only 
be proved to exist, when some being is found, competent to com- 
prehend, infallibly and exhaustively, the law of reference and 
the infinite nature of God. Until such comparison is actually 
made, the supposed perfection of God must remain an unresolved 
problem. And when the judge is found, competent to the office 
thus indicated, the highest result to which it is possible to come, 
from the principles here set up, is the discovery in Jehovah of a 
finite perfection, — a perfection subordinate to the eternal prin- 
ciples, and determined by them. Thus, infinite excellence — 
perfection in and of itself — is attributed to the imagined law, and 
denied to Jehovah. But, should we admit Dr. Beecher's con- 
fidence in the perfection of God to be well founded, to what pur- 



sect, v.] The Law of God, 197 

pose then is that sacred duty, so earnestly enjoined on us, to 
hold God answerable to the principles, and judge him by them? 
Are we to set out in this responsible duty with the confidence of 
Dr. B. as the fundamental proposition by which all is to be tried? 
What then becomes of "the supreme laws of honour and recti- 
tude"? If the doctrine of "The Conflict" is true, the author is 
imperatively bound to hold his confidence, so freely expressed, 
as a mere private opinion, subject to correction upon further 
light. For, if it be a sacred duty to judge the conduct of God, 
by the standard of these "intuitive perceptions of the human 
mind," it is an equally sacred duty to give judgment, not 
according to any preconceived opinions, but by "the law and the 
testimony." In fact, the very announcement of such a precon- 
ception of the divine conduct, is of itself a dereliction from the 
duties of an impartial judge. It is an involuntary tribute to the 
irresponsible sovereignty of God, extorted from the heart of the 
author, in the midst of his oppositions of science, falsely so called. 
The doctrine here controverted is identical with that of the 
whole company of modern skeptics and infidels. We recognise 
"the principles of honour and right" in Paine's "principles of 
moral justice," "ideas of moral justice and benevolence," "the 
immutable laws of science," "the great principles of divine 
morality, justice and mercy," &c. Reasoning from these prin- 
ciples, the blaspheming infidel attains to conclusions differing 
from those recognised and urged by our author, only in this ; — 
that, whilst the former altogether rejects the word of God, the 
latter only requires that where its testimony differs from that 
of his "principles," it shall either be reduced to silence, or com- 
pelled to frame its speech after the Shibboleth of "honour and 
right." "There have been, and still are, those who think so 
much more of the verbal revelations of God," says Dr. B., "than 
of any other, that they almost overlook the fact that the founda- 
tions of all possible knowledge have been laid by God in the 
consciousness and the intuitive perceptions of the mind itself. 
Forgetful of this fact, they have often, by unfounded interpreta- 
tions of Scripture, done violence to the mind, and overruled the 
decisions made by God himself through it; and then sought 



198 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. v. 

shelter, in faith and mystery."* "If any alleged actions of God 
come into collision with the natural and intuitive judgments of 
the human mind concerning what is honourable and right on the 
points specified, there is better reason to call in question the alleged 
facts, than to suppose those principles to be false, which God has 
made the human mind intuitively to recognise as true."f For 
example, when the patriarch Abraham was commanded to sacrifice 
the beloved child of his old age, "his son, his only son, Isaac," so 
far from yielding the implicit compliance which he did exercise, 
he should have replied, "The intuitive principles of honour and 
right forbid it. It cannot be that the Holy One should command 
an act of unprovoked murder. It cannot be that God should com- 
mand an affectionate father to imbrue his hands in the blood of his 
pious and obedient son. The act comes into collision with the na- 
tural and intuitive judgments of my mind concerning what is ho- 
nourable and right on the point specified. There is therefore better 
reason to call in question the alleged fact that God so commands, 
than to suppose those principles to be false which God has made 
my mind intuitively to recognise as true. Get thee behind me, 
Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God!" 

But with these compare the corresponding positions of The 
Age of Reason. "Instead of studying theology, as is now done, 
out of the Bible and Testament, the meanings of which books 
are always controverted, and the authenticity of which is dis- 
proved, it is necessary that we refer to the Bible of the creation. 
The principles we discover there are eternal, and of divine 
origin ; they are the foundation of all the science that exists in 
the world, and must be the foundation of theology. "J "It has 
been by wandering from the immutable laws of science and 
the right use of reason, and setting up an invented thing called 
revealed religion, that so many wild and blasphemous conceits 
have been formed of the Almighty. "|| "The Bible represents 
God to be a changeable, passionate, vindictive being; making 
a world, and then drowning it ; afterwards repenting of what he 
had done, and promising not to do so again; setting one nation 

* Conflict, p. 20. f Ibid. p. 29. 

% Paine's Theological Works, Boston, 1834, p. 150. || Ibid. p. 152. 



sect, v.] The Law of God. 199 

to cut the throats of another, and stopping the course of the sun, 
till the butchery should be done. But the works of God in the 
creation preach to us another doctrine. . . . Xow, which am I 
to believe; a book that any impostor may make and call the 
word of God, — or the creation itself which none but an Almighty 
Power could make ? for the Bible says one thing, and the creation 
says the contrary. The Bible represents God with all the passions 
of a mortal, and the creation proclaims him with all the attributes 
of a God." . . . "All our ideas of the justice and goodness of 
God revolt at the impious cruelty of the Bible."* To the same 
purpose is Bousseau : — " Your pretended supernatural proofs, your 
miracles and your prophecies reduce us to the folly of believing 
them all, on the credit of others, and of submitting the authority 
of God, speaking to our reason, to that of man. If those eternal 
truths of which my understanding forms the strongest conceptions, 
can possibly be false, I can have no hope of ever arriving at cer- 
titude ; and, so far from being capable of being assured that you 
speak to me from God, I cannot even be assured of his existence. "f 
The difference between the positions of these atheistical philoso- 
phers and the divine is immaterial. Both recognise certain " intui- 
tive principles," having an eternal and necessary existence prior 
to and independent of any revelation of the nature or expression 
of the will of God. Both acknowledge their authority to be su- 
preme and their decisions final, not only in regard to the ways 
of men, but of God also. Both, under their instruction, find the 
dealings of God, as revealed in the Scriptures, worthy of condem- 
nation. Here they part company. The philosophers unflinch- 
ingly follow their principles where they lead, and reject the book 
which has thus been weighed and found wanting. The divine 
tenders his aid to explain away what he admits to be the plain 
sense of the Scriptures, and to supply their deficiencies by the 
help of fancy, under the guidance of the intuitive perceptions. 
Thus are we supplied with an appendix to the sacred volume, in 
which we may learn what the Spirit of inspiration ought to have 



* Paine's Works, p. 154. 

f The Savoyard Vicar, in Paine's Works, p. 370. 



200 The Eloliim Revealed [chap. v. 

said, in order to "vindicate the ways of God to man." The 
skeptic is entitled to the credit of candonr and courage at least, 
in that, having adopted principles so impious, he does not hesi- 
tate to follow them to a consistent conclusion, and reject at once 
the volume which they so palpably impugn, and which the other 
more dishonours by attempting to mend. 

But the question may still recur, Are there not, after all, cer- 
tain intuitive cognitions of the human mind, which constitute 
1 6. Office of the standard of all our convictions on moral sub- 
intuition. jects? By intuitive cognitions, we suppose, are 

meant convictions arising primarily and of necessity in the 
mind, by an immediate and involuntary perception of their truth, 
independent of induction or argument. Of these, we reply, Their 
number is few; and, so far as relates to the present discussion, 
their office is one, — to constitute the connecting link between 
the authority of God and the soul of man. Their purpose is to 
bring man consciously into the presence of his Creator, that he 
may hear his voice and obey. Among these intuitions may be 
named the perception of the relation of cause and effect; the 
recognition of the Great First Cause as God; that he is infinite 
in perfections; and that, as God, he has an absolute property in 
his creatures, and is entitled to their highest homage and implicit 
obedience. By a reference to these alone can the question of 
the divine authority of any mediate revelation be determined. 
When God appeared to holy men of old in personal communica- 
tions, his presence was undoubtedly self-evidencing; and the 
testimony which they, under the guidance of his Spirit, left on 
record for our instruction, is accompanied with a similar evi- 
dence to the soul in which the Spirit of God dwells. But the 
arguments by which it is attested to the intelligent understand- 
ing, however many be the links of connection, invariably lead 
us back to the principles above stated; and, however the cor- 
rupted and apostate soul of man may not and does not love the 
truths which are ascertained through them, these intuitive 
principles are admitted to a universal and necessary consent 
whenever and wherever they are announced. It is further to 
be observed, that, alike in the communications of God's Spirit 



sect, v.] The Lent: of God. 201 

to inspired men, and in those which we receive by intermediate 
channels, the single point to which evidence is directed, is, 
whether the communication be from our Creator. This ques- 
tion is in no instance determined by the mere nature of the reve- 
lation, but in the one case by immediate intuition of God's pre- 
sence, and in the other by appeal to the law of cause and effect. 
ISTot until this point is determined are we prepared to listen to 
the communication; and, it being once decided in the affirma- 
tive, conscience testifies, however unwilling we may be to hear, 
that He has a right to command, and that, whatever be the 
nature of the revelation, it is our duty to acquiesce and obey. 

Of the intuitive principles stated by the author of "The Con- 
flict," it is enough to say that no one of them will command uni- 
versal consent, whilst some are likely to meet with unanimous 
rejection. They are not, therefore, intuitions; since it is a con- 
tradiction in terms so to designate propositions which may be 
honestly rejected by intelligent minds. 

The views of the author of "The Conflict" involve and result 
from attributing to God moral relations and obligations, which, 
a r. Testimony i n ^ Q nature of the case, are alone applicable to 
of the Scrip- the creatures. Upon the principle of proprietary 
tures ' right, which indisputably entitles the Creator to 

the absolute possession and unlimited control of the material 
universe, he has an equally absolute right to the obedience and 
service of man and all the intelligent creatures. Upon this 
ground God himself bases his authority, and claims obedience. 
When the challenge is made, — Why doeth he so? — By what 
right does he assume to rule ? — the reply is invariably the same : 
— "I have created it. It is mine." — So declare the four-and- 
twenty Elders, whom John saw fall down before him that sat on 
the throne, saying, "Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory, 
and honour, and power ; for thou hast created all things, and for 
thy pleasure they are, and were created." — Rev. iv. 11. Such 
was the right upon which God founded his decree to punish the 
wickedness of the old world: — "I will destroy man whom I have 
created." — Gen. vi. 7. By this same authority does he assert 
his right to ordain the Son to be the Saviour of the world : — 



202 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. v. 

"Thus saitli God the Lord, lie that created the heavens and 
stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that 
which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people 
upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein; I the Lord have 
called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will 
keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light 
of the G-entiles." — Isa. xlii. 5, 6. And again, "Thus saith the 
Lord, that created the heavens ; God himself, that formed the 
earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in 
vain, he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is 

none else Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of 

the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by 
myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and 
shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, and every 
tongue shall swear." — Isa. xlv. 18, 22, 23. Upon this same 
principle, does Paul justify that discrimination, by which God 
dispenses his sovereign grace to some, and withholds it from 
others. " Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and 
his ways past finding out ! For who hath known the mind of 
the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first 
given to him? and it shall be recompensed unto him again. 
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to 
whom be glory forever. Amen." — Rom. xi. 33-36. "Thou wilt- 
say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? for who hath 
resisted his will? Nay, but, man, who art thou that repliest 
against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed 
it, Why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power 
over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour 
and another unto dishonour?" — Rom. ix. 19-21. Precisely to 
the same purpose is the language of God himself: — "Woe unto 
him that striveth with his Maker ! Let the potsherd strive with 
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fash- 
ioneth it, What makest thou ? or thy work, He hath no hands ? 
Woe to him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or 
to the woman, What hast thou brought forth ? Thus saith the 
Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things 



sect, vii.] The Law of God. 203 

to come concerning my sons; and concerning the work of my 
hands command ye me. I have made the earth, and created 
man upon it; I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, 
and all their host have I commanded." — Isa. xlv. 9-12. Is it 
possible to read such passages as these, and yet question whether 
the Creator claims our obedience and devotion to his glory upon 
the ground of his creative property in us? 

Conscience is that attribute of the soul, by which it perceives 
the moral relation which thus binds the intelligent creature to 
its Maker. The one sphere of its office is moral relations. The 
one law of its decrees is the authority of the Creator. The one 
principle, to which all the forms of its decisions are reducible, 
is, obedience. Its only penalty, is, consciousness of indignity 
done to rightful authority, and consequent self-reproach and 
sense of the Creator's frown. Thus every element in the phe- 
nomena of conscience, supposes subordination recognised to a 
rightful and supreme lawgiver. This is altogether inapplicable 
to the position of God; and disavowed by our author, as predi- 
cate of him. Yet, upon no other supposition, can we under- 
stand his language, describing God as his own omniscient judge, 
realizing self-condemnation and misery. Here evidently the 
Most High is placed, like man, in subordination to some superior 
authority, and controlled by a subservient conscience, and law 
within, recognising that supremacy. 

It is asserted to be the right and duty of the creatures to sit 
in j udgment upon the ways and word of God ; and, if any thing 
§ 8. Judgment is at variance with our sense of honour and right, 
upon God. to reject and condemn it, as not of God. 

1. It is not enough, for establishing these positions, to show 
that God has written a law in the hearts of men, by the decrees 
of which the heathen world will be judged. The question is not 
concerning the criterion of men's actions; but, respecting their 
authority to sit in judgment on those of God. And the fact that, 
when the written word of God comes in, it at once supersedes 
the judicial power of the law in the heart, so that whilst "as 
many as have sinned without law shall perish without law;" on 
the other hand, "as many as have sinned in the law shall be 



204 The Moliim Revealed. [chap. v. 

judged by the law," — Rom. ii. 12, — shows that "the law in the 
heart" does not now possess the ultimate supremacy attributed 
to it by Dr. Beecher. 

2. "The fact that the foundations of all possible knowledge 
have been laid by God in the consciousness and the intuitive 
perceptions of the mind itself/' avails nothing, to establish the 
position laboured by our author. The argument is familiar, in 
the mouths of Romanists. "You are indebted," say they, "to 
the church for the knowledge that the Bible is the word of God. 
The church therefore has authority to interpret the Scriptures." 
The reply is self-evident. Even admitting the false assumption, 
still, the competence of a witness to establish a given fact, gives 
him no right of control over the matters which he attests. The 
witness who proves a will, is not thereby entitled to determine 
or control the bequests specified in it. The fact that we are 
ultimately dependent upon certain intuitions, to ascertain that 
God has spoken, gives them no right to determine what he ought 
to utter, or even what he has said. 

3. The assertion by God of his own rectitude, and even his 
appeals to our consciences to justify his dealings with us, do 
not convey a right to assume the position asserted by Dr. B. 
On the contrary, the very design of such declarations and ap- 
peals, is to induce in us an unquestioning submission to his au- 
thority and acquiescence in his testimony, at all times, and under 
all circumstances. It is designed to recall the perverse soul of 
man, to its own intuitive consciousness that, whatever be his 
ways, they are righteous; as an argument on the one hand of 
the sinfulness of man's transgressions, and, on the other, of the 
duty of lowly and universal acquiescence and obedience. So, a 
parent may assert, to a child, the rectitude of his authority • and 
even proceed so far as to explain the meaning of some of his 
actions ; and yet, so far from implying, thus, any right in the 
child to hold him amenable to its judgment, the whole intention 
is directly the reverse. 

4. On the other hand, many express declarations of the word 
of God, negative, with stern rebuke, the presumption which 
would question Jehovah as to his ways. Such is the lesson to 



sect, viii.] The Law of God. 205 

which the entire book of Job is directed. The former part of it 
narrates an argument between Job and his three friends, in 
which they were all guilty of an irreverent trial of the conduct 
of God, at the bar of carnal reason. In the thirty-third chap- 
ter, the discussion is taken up by Elihu, who gives the key to 
the whole book. "Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, 
and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, I am clean 
without transgression; I am innocent; neither is there iniquity 
in me. Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me 
for his enemy; he putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all 
my paths. — Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer 
thee, that God is greater than man. Why dost thou strive 
against him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters." 
— Job xxxiii. 8-13. "He giveth not account of any of his mat- 
ters." — This is the text of the entire discourse of Elihu; which 
is terminated by the voice of God himself, in a series of sublime 
challenges to Job, in which his righteousness is vindicated solely 
by appeal to his majesty and power as Creator. In the sequel, 
Job confesses, in the dust, the impiety of his venturing to sit 
in inquest on the ways of the Almighty; and acknowledges His 
right to rule unquestioned; and the duty of man to adore and 
obey. "I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no 
thought can be withholden from thee. — Who is he that hideth 
counsel without knowledge? — Therefore have I uttered that 
I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew 
not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand 
of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the 
hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth thee : wherefore I 
abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." — Job xlii. 2-6. 
Nothing can here be more appropriate, than the comment of 
Henry: — "Job owns himself to be guilty of that which God had 
charged him with, in the beginning of his discourse. ' Lord, the 
first word that thou saidst was, — Who is this that darkeneth 
counsel by words without knowledge? — There needed no more; 
that word convinced me; ... I have passed a judgment upon 
the dispensations of Providence, though I was utterly a stranger 
to the reasons of them.' Here, he owns himself ignorant of the 



206 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. v. 

divine counsels; and so we are all. God's judgments are a great 
deep, which we cannot fathom, much less find out the springs of. 
We see what God does, but we neither know why he does it, 
what he is driving at, nor what he will bring it to : these are 
things too wonderful for us; out of our sight to discover, out of 
our reach to alter, and out of our jurisdiction to judge of; they 
are things which we know not; it is quite above our capacity to 
pass a verdict upon them." 

In the ninth chapter of the epistle to the Eomans, we may 
witness the appeal of an objector, against the sovereign dispen- 
sations of God, to the intuitive perceptions of honour and right ; 
and the reception which it meets from the Spirit of God. " Thou 
wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who 
hath resisted his will ? Nay, but, man, who art thou that re- 
pliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that 
formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" &c. — Kom. ix. 19, 20. 
Paul allows no space for the performance of the sacred duty of 
holding the Most High to account. Other passages to the same 
effect will throng on the attention of the Bible student. 

5. Were the doctrine true which we oppose, it would involve 
us in a state of hopeless darkness, and perplexity in regard to 
the way of duty and salvation. We have lamentable proof, in 
our daily experience, that both our intellectual and moral powers 
are in a state of ruin. Our understandings are darkened, and 
our affections perverted, insomuch that we scarcely dare rely 
with confidence upon their decisions from the briefest inductions 
concerning the most necessary truths. God is infinitely above our 
comprehension ; and his ways are as unsearchable as his nature. 
Any mistake, in relation to his character and our relations to 
him, involves imminent peril of perdition, under the curse of 
our Creator. Yet, in such circumstances, we are required to 
take up that sacred volume, which comes to us as the very word 
of God, that shall be a lamp to our darkness and a guide to our 
ignorance ; and test its authority, not by the inquiry, — Does it 
bring evidence of its heavenly origin? — but by the question, 
whether each several communication therein contained is such 
as God ought to have made; determining the character of each 



sect. viii. J The Law of Grxl. 207 

part of that record, by reference to the standard of man's ruin- 
ous nature; and explaining away, or rejecting, whatever is thus 
determined to be unworthy of God. Can we hope for any thing 
but mistake and ruin, in such a process? In terms, the state- 
ment of Dr. Beecher purports to be a mere criterion by which 
to judge of the authenticity of any professed revelation from 
God. In fact, it limits the authority of God himself. As we 
have formerly seen, our author avowedly confines that authority 
within the principles. Here, he limits it by our judgments, de- 
duced from them. If God himself should come to us, in visible 
and bodily form, as he did to Abraham, and address to us any 
sort of communications, we are taught, that he requires us to 
test them all by the intuitive principles; and if, in our judgment, 
they fail to stand the test, we are to reject them. The alterna- 
tive is, that God has violated the eternal law and ought not to 
be obeyed; or, that it is not God that speaks. Either alterna- 
tive is atheism. A God whose word is not law, in and of itself, 
is no God. 

The illustration which the book of Dr. B. presents, of the suc- 
cess of such a course of proceeding, is a signal example of re- 
1 9.Br.Beech- ductio ad absurdam, a conclusive proof of the fallacy 
er'sexperi- of the whole scheme. Assuming the seat of judg- 
ment, and laying down the six principles to which 
we have referred at the beginning of this chapter, he proceeds to 
test by them the doctrine of the Scriptures on the subject of 
original sin. The word of God is put to the question. It replies, 
u In Adam all die." — 1 Cor. xv. 22. "As by one man sin en- 
tered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon 
all men, for that all have sinned. — Through the offence of one 
many be dead. — By one man's offence death reigned by one. — 
By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condem- 
nation. — By one man's disobedience many were made sinners." 
— Bom. v. 12, 15-18. Not so ! interposes the judge from the 
bench. " The sin of Adam, in fact, exerted no influence what- 
ever on his race;" and the supposition that it does is contrary to 
the nature of things, and the intuitive principles of honour and 
right. What course now does Dr. Beecher pursue? He has 



208 The Elohim Revealed [chap. v. 

assumed the place of judgment, under a sacred obligation to try 
and determine according to intuitive principles; under the con- 
viction, that if any thing, though professedly from God, " come 
into collision with the natural and intuitive judgments of the 
human mind, there is better reason to call in question the alleged 
facts, than to suppose those principles to be false which God has 
made the human mind intuitively to recognise as true." He 
has denned those principles, which thus constitute the standard 
of judgment. He has selected his case, and applied the rule, 
and found a direct contradiction between the word of God and 
the intuitive principles. Does he, as an impartial judge, give 
sentence, and erase the obnoxious statements from the sacred 
page ? "No, he leaves the bench and becomes an advocate in the 
case. " It is equally in accordance with the laws of language and 
the usages of Scripture to suppose that the sequence [between 
Adam's sin and our ruin] is one of merely apparent causation; 
so that the sin of Adam, in fact, exerted no influence whatever 
on his race, but it and its sequences were merely ordered so 
to stand in relation to each other as to make, at the very intro- 
duction of the human race into this world, a striking type of the 
coming Messiah, by whom the race was to be redeemed."* 
No ! all men do not die in Adam; but "if in a previous state of 
existence, God created all men with such constitutions, and placed 
them in such circumstances, as the laws of honour and of right de- 
manded, — if, then, they revolted, and corrupted themselves, and 
forfeited their rights, and were introduced into this world under 
a dispensation of sovereignty, disclosing both justice and mercy, 
— then all conflict of the moving powers of Christianity can be 
at once and entirely removed, "f If all this wild dream be true, 
and if it may be pleaded at the bar as an element in the case on 
trial, then may the ways of God be justified! 

But may not that glorious One, whom the patron of this un- 
scriptural fancy has called to account, well demand, in reference 
to such a vindication, — by what authority he assumes to be an 
advocate in the cause? — who authorized him to supplement the 

* Conflict of Ages, p. 376. f Ibid. p. 221. 



sect, ix.] The Lav: of God. 209 

sacred word with the revelations of his intuitive sense? May 
we not appropriate to such a case God's challenge to Job : — 
"Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without know- 
ledge?" "Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct 
him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it." — Job xxxviii. 
2, xl. 2. 

The scheme here examined involves an utter disregard of the 
fact that the final end of all things is, the revelation of God. 
§ io. God The moment we allow that blessed One to be limited 
revealed. in an y way, in the government of his works, we 

are constrained to denv him to have been free in their creation. 
If entirely independent in the work of creation, his property in 
his creatures must be absolute and unlimited, and his conduct 
toward them must remain free from any restraint or control, sub- 
ject only to his independent and absolute discretion. If, there- 
fore, he is subject to limitation in his governmental administra- 
tion, he must have been so in his creative work. In fact, this theory 
is an offshoot of optimism, which actually asserts such a restraint. 
But, if any restraint be allowed, all discretion is thereby abso- 
lutely precluded. Neither in respect to the fact nor the design 
of creation, the number and nature of the creatures, the laws 
which govern them, nor the administration which presides over 
them, is there thenceforward any pertinence in inquiring as to 
the will of God, his nature, character or purposes. He is a 
cipher in the account ; or, at best, a mere mechanic, whose office 
it is, slavishly to copy the model set before him. If God should 
propose to make his own glory the chief end of his works, the 
Nature of Things may step in and say, " Nay, but it shall be 
the happiness of the creatures, — the greatest good of the greatest 
number." Perhaps, in that number it may allow Jehovah to 
count for one. But that is as the sovereign Principles may 
determine. And, although, as read by Edwards and his earlier 
followers, they cordially consent, we have no assurance that 
a generation will not arise, whose superior intelligence and 
position will enable them to discover directlv the reverse. One 
thing, however, remains abundantly sure, that the moment ^ve 
admit the supremacy of the " Nature of Things," of Beecher's 

l-i 



210 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. v. 

la 

"Principles," or of any thing else than God's own nature, the 
fountain of his will, any true revelation of God is forever pre- 
cluded. No creature can thereafter tell, at what point, or in 
what form, the free agency of God has been limited. None can 
tell how different the whole system had been, if it all had re- 
sulted from his mere discretion. He may be holy, but it can 
never be proved. He may be good, but it cannot be known. The 
seeming evidence may all proceed, not from his will, but from 
the nature of things. Thus does the theory cast a pall of utter 
and eternal darkness over the glory of God ; and exalt in his 
stead a blind, unintelligent, impersonal deity, which, however 
named, is the very Brahma of eastern idolatry. Others may 
bow at this shrine; but such is not the God whom we worship. 
" Our God is in the heavens : he hath done whatsoever he hath 
pleased." — Ps. cxv. 3. All his works praise him, and his 
saints bless and rejoice in him, because he hath done thus ; — 
because in all the operation of his hands and testimony of his 
word, they see the pure outshining of his own perfection, — the 
sovereign, uncontrolled and uninfluenced unfolding of the 
radiant glories of his own nature, — the revelation of himself as, 

I AM THAT I AM. 

Any theory which limits the authority and discretion of the 
Creator, and our duty of obedience to him, by other laws than his 
own free will, the expression of his own essential nature, is alike 
untenable and impious. The only rule of all morality, the 
comprehensive sum of all duty, is expressed by the Preacher 
in the closing words of the book of Ecclesiastes : — " Let us 
hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear God, and keep 
his commandments ; for this is the whole duty of man." — 
Eccl. xii. 13. When God our Creator, has spoken, it is ours 
unquestioning to obey. Though it be with Samuel to exter- 
minate the mother with her child, an entire nation, — with the 
tribe of Levi to slay their brethren, — or with the father of the 
faithful to immolate his son; "to obey is better than sacrifice, 
and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the 
sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." 
—1 Sam. xv. 22, 23. 



sect, xi.] The Law of God. 211 

The fundamental principle which governs this subject, is that 
, „ „ a proprietor is entitled to the beneficial uses, abso- 

§ 11. Nature r r ^ > 

and necessity lute and entire, of his property. This, in fact, is the 
of God's so- essential idea of the proprietary relation; divested 
of which, the word is an unmeaning sound, and the 
relation disappears. This further implies, that the assertion of 
this proprietary right in perpetuity, or the more or less entire 
alienation of it, belongs altogether to the sovereign discretion 
of the proprietor; who may, unquestioned and uncontrolled, do 
in the matter according to his own mere pleasure. Since then 
the work of creation is but the investiture of the creatures with 
what properly and essentially belongs to no other than God 
alone, — existence, and the conditions of existence and enjoy- 
ment, — and since he expressly and continually declares, both in 
the very act of creation, and in the whole process of his govern- 
ment, that the being and endowments with which he has clothed 
the creatures are inalienably his own, and only lent for his own 
service and glory; it is evident that no higher title to pro- 
prietary authority can be conceived than that which here exists, 
and that the right of God to the service of the creature must be 
perfect and supreme; and his authority comprehensive of the 
entire being. If there be in the creature any capacity or prin- 
ciple of agency which is not the gift of God, that may be re- 
served. But, if all is derived from him, all is due to his service ; 
and the vindication of this his property in the works of his own 
hands, demands that he should require a subordination compre- 
hensive of the whole being, over heart, soul, mind and strength ; 
over body and spirit ; which all alike are his. 

Such are the obligations in which the creature is involved, by 
the very necessity of his created nature. It results that a holy 
God, a righteous sovereign, must, alike in respect to his wisdom, 
his authority and that holiness which demands the enforcement 
of what is right, require of all his creatures, that supreme re- 
gard to his will and glory, which his own purpose in creation 
contemplated, and which reason thus so clearly indicates, and 
justice demands. 

In fact, it is a matter of infinite necessity to the creatures, 



212 The Eloliim Revealed, [chap. v. 

that God should constitute himself the common centre and bond 
of harmony, alike to the material and moral universe. We are, 
for example, dependent upon the air flowing through our lungs 
for the continuance of life. Suppose the atmosphere to be left 
uncontrolled, or placed under the dominion of one ruler, and the 
earth under another. The result must be instant destruction to 
every living thing. So too of the heavenly bodies; — all must 
be under the control of one governing, guidiug hand, or collision 
and ruin must ensue. 

The same thing is true of the intelligent and moral part of 
creation. Conceive a world organized and peopled by God ; en- 
dowed with every thing requisite for subsistence ; its population 
gifted with an existence continued independently of the imme- 
diate agency of omnipotence, and then severed from God's do- 
main, freed from his sceptre, released from his law, obliterated 
from his thoughts, and set free from responsibility to his judg- 
ment bar ! 

Could we visit that lost world and witness the condition of its 
inhabitants, what should we see ? We should find a population 
to whom all the persuasive arguments arising from the hopes of 
their Creator's favour have lost their significance and power. 
They realize no restraint from dread of his displeasure. For 
they have no God. They have no promises to inspire hope, nor 
threatenings to appeal to fear. We should find intelligences 
without a conscience, — without a conception of the duty of 
rectitude or the crime of wrong-doing and sin. For wrong is 
deviation from a standard of duty, from a law of obligation; 
and sin is violation of the requirements of the Creator. Whilst 
righteousness is conformity to those obligations, — obedience to 
the law. But, to these forsaken beings, as there is no sovereign, 
there is no law, — no obligation of conformity, as there is no 
standard of duty. 

In such a world, every bond of moral rectitude, and every tie 
of social obligation, would be dissolved by the stroke that 
severed the bond which held them in dependence upon Jehovah's 
throne. From thence, only, does the marriage tie derive its 
sanctitude, and the relations of the family, all their authority 



sect, xi.] The Lata of God. 213 

and tenderness. From thence do the social relations and com- 
mon charities derive their spring ; and the political system, its 
constitution and controlling power. In short, the decree which 
severs the creature from immediate and conscious dependence 
and obligation to the Creator, would convert cherubim into 
devils, and paradise into a hell, where self would be to each, 
supreme; and appetite and passion the ultimate motives, and 
only law. 

If a creature is to be happy, that end can never be attained, 
except by constituting the Creator the great centre of all his 
motions, — by making God's law his rule, God's favour his high- 
est aspiration, and God's glory his great end. As God made 
him for his own pleasure, and to his own glory; and as his 
tribute to these most righteously belongs to God : so is it equally 
essential to the well-being and happiness of the creature himself, 
spontaneously, and with all his heart, to render that tribute to 
his Maker. 

Thus then does it appear, from reasons which commend them- 
selves to our unreserved acquiescence, antecedent to any revela- 
1 12. The law tion of the will of God, that his commandment, when 
is, " GioHfy given, must announce the supreme duty of man and 
angels, the great business of creation, to be the 
Creator's glory. The law is given ; — and its whole burden is 
summed in one word: — " Glorify God in your body and spirit, 
which are God's." Such is the occasion of the first and great 
commandment of the law: — "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
strength, and with all thy mind." 

" The second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
thyself." If the discovery of the glory of the divine perfections 
be the great end of creation, and supreme love to God the great 
duty of rational beings, love to each other becomes of the highest 
obligation; as, in fact, essential to the former. They recognise 
in each other the creatures of his power, whose several endow- 
ments and enjoyments are the gifts of his goodness. Their har- 
mony and love attest the unity and wisdom of his nature and 
designs. Their consequent happiness proclaims him good. Their 



214 Tlie Elohim Revealed. [chap. v. 

unanimous homage exalts his praise. And, whilst they vie as 
co-workers with him, in promoting each other's happiness, each 
serves as a mirror, in which is seen reflected the image of his 
infinite beneficence. 

Such was that most perfect law, under which man was created; 
— its precepts based in reasons most worthy of God, and origi- 
nating in the very attributes of his own nature ; — in its influence 
felicitous to man and the creatures, and essential to account for, 
or perpetuate, the existence of creation itself. Through its in- 
strumentality, three purposes are accomplished. It serves for 
the revelation of the moral perfections of God ; it constitutes an 
assertion of his sovereignty ; and is a touchstone for the creatures. 
In two ways does it make known the moral perfections of God ; 
— as the law itself is a definition and announcement of those per- 
fections, addressed to the understandings of the intelligent crea- 
tures; — and, as they, conforming themselves to its rule, are 
mirrors, in which the glorious image of the Lawgiver is reflected, 
so as to be mutually recognised and admired by them. It asserts 
the Creator's sovereignty, by its preceptive form; and vindicates 
it, by the penal terrors of its curse. And it constitutes a touch- 
stone by the aid of which the actions of the creatures may be 
tested, and all ambiguity precluded, as to their conformity to, 
or alienation from, the likeness of God. Based in such principles, 
and appointed to such ends, this law must be, as it is, universal 
in its authority and unchangeable in its terms. By it, angels in 
glory, and devils in hell, are bound and ruled. By it, man, 
innocent, fallen, redeemed, and reprobate, is governed. And, in 
conformity with its precepts and design, the worlds of space and 
the lower orders of creatures, are organized and adapted. 

Of this law it is a signal characteristic, that it requires perfect 
obedience. It might seem superfluous to specify this feature, 
a 13 Thecha- but for the importance sometimes attributed to what 
racteri sties of is absurdly called " imperfect obedience;" which is 
supposed to be acceptable, if sincere. On the con- 
trary, the apostle testifies that " whosoever shall keep the whole 
law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," — James ii. 
10; and the Son of God himself asserts the same thing, when 



sect, xii.] The Laic of God. 215 

lie exhorts, " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which, 
is in heaven is perfect." The character of its author demands 
that his should be a law of perfection ; and nothing less would 
have been appropriate to the design of the law, — the revelation 
of its Author's glory, — and to the perfection which shone in the 
beings to whom it was at first revealed. In fact, it is of the very 
nature of law to require perfect obedience. It recognises no 
alternative between obedience and transgression. To say that the 
law requires the performance of such and such duties, but does 
not enforce the obligation, is a contradiction in terms. A line 
from which the law allows deflection, is not the line of its require- 
ments. An imperfect obedience is acknowledged transgression ; 
and the sincerity which is supposed to compensate for the imper- 
fection, either attaches to the partial obedience, and is therefore no 
more than a part of it, which cannot compensate for what it lacks ; 
or it characterizes the transgression, and so proves the falsity of the 
pretended conformity, even in so far as it assumes such a seeming. 
If it be allowed that the law can tolerate any measure of trans- 
gression without punishment, there then remains no line to mark 
the bounds beyond which transgression may not go ; and, in fact, 
the precept being thus trampled under foot, and the penalty set 
aside, the law itself is annulled, and the universe is left without 
guide or ruler. 

A second feature of the law, is that it is comprehensive of the 
entire moral being of those upon whom its precept is laid. It 
does not merely concern itself with actions, but with the nature, 
the fountain whence they flow. In fact, when the precept in 
terms applies to the formal actions of the creature, it in that 
fact asserts a jurisdiction over the nature of the soul, the atti- 
tude of the powers, which is the cause of the actions, and of 
their moral nature. The sum of the first table of the law is, 
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." 
— Mark xii. 30. There is no element of the being, — there is no 
power of the nature, of the body, or of the soul, — which is not 
thus comprehended in the obligation of the law. Its demand is, 
"Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are 



216 The Elolum Revealed. [chap. v. 

God's." — 1 Cor. vi. 20. Inasmuch as all of body and soul — not 
only the active faculties, but the inmost powers — were made by 
God, for himself, the reason which calls for a law at all, demands 
that its compass include all these, directing all to God's glory. 
Of this we shall speak more fully in a subsequent chapter. 

The law, thus strict and comprehensive in its demands, was 
also unchangeable in its terms, and of perpetual obligation. This 
necessarily results from the perfection of its nature, the excel- 
lence of its origin, and the unchangeableness of Him whose per- 
fections it proclaims; and is further indicated in the manner in 
which, under changing circumstances, it has been repeatedly re- 
announced and enforced. Originally inscribed on the heart of 
Adam in his creation, it was recognised and comprehended in 
the subsequent transaction respecting the tree of knowledge. 
Transgression of it by our first parents involved them and their 
race in its penal curse. Under its condemnation, the nations of 
the old world, the cities of the plain, and the people of Canaan, 
perished; and Pharaoh and his kingdom suffered the scourges 
of God. "When a new dispensation of grace was introduced, it 
was attended with the tremendous scene of Sinai; whose thun- 
derings and flame proclaimed the law, not set aside, or mitigated 
in its demands; but clothed with the robes and sword of vin- 
dictive justice, to punish transgression. When the Son of God 
came in the flesh, to redeem transgressors, his largest recorded 
discourse was introduced with the admonition, " Think not that 
I am come to destroy the law or the prophets : I am not come 
to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven 
and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from 
the law, till all be fulfilled."— Matt. v. 17, 18. The whole of 
that discourse is an illustration and enforcement of the spirit- 
uality and authority of the law, all of whose precepts are in it, 
summed in the one comprehensive requirement, "Be ye therefore 
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." — 
Matt. v. 48. The whole life of the Son of God, who was "made 
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law," — Gal. 
iv. 4, 5, — is a most signal proof that none of its requirements 
had been lowered, nor its penalty modified nor set aside. 



sect, xiii.] The Law of God. 217 

All the attributes of God join to assert that his law is immu- 
table and inexorable in its claims. "The law is holy, and the 
commandment holy, and just, and good;" and shall the Holy One 
set it aside? Its demands are truth and righteousness; and 
shall a righteous God fail to enforce them ? Even the imagina- 
tion that he might abrogate it, is blasphemous. It is, to suppose 
that he may say to his creatures, " My laws are perfect, but I 
do not require them to be obeyed. My commands are holy, but 
transgression is not displeasing to me. My threatenings are 
righteous, but righteousness and truth will not enforce them." 
In short, it is to assume that he whose name is Holy, and "who is 
of purer eyes than to behold evil," may cease to view it with 
indignation, and may regard open rebellion with complacency; 
— that he may break down the barriers which divide corruption 
from holiness, and bridge the gulf which separates hell and 
heaven. The unchangeableness of God concurs with his holi- 
ness, to forbid the repeal of the least commandment of his law. 
He has said that these are his requirements ; that he that doeth 
shall live, but he that transgresseth shall die. And " God is not 
a man, that he should lie, neither the son of man, that he should 
repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it ? or hath he spoken, 
and shall he not make it good?" — Num. xxiii. 19. How em- 
phatic his admonition by the prophet! — "Remember the former 
things of old ; for I am God, and there is none else ; I am God, 
and there is none like me ; declaring the end from the beginning, 
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done ; saying, 
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." — Isa. xlvi. 
9, 10. Well exclaims the Psalmist, "Thy word is true from the 
beginning; and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth 
forever." — Psalm cxix. 160. 

The perpetuity of the divine law further appears in its com- 
prehensive scope, which includes all possible cases and provided 
1 14. The law for all emergencies. Perfectly adapted to the state 
hinds all. f man innocent, it contemplated, and made full 

provision for, the contingency of man guilty. In the doom of 
death, as the penalty of sin, it provided for the case that has 
occurred, in the fall of our race; and thus evinced, that He who 



218 Tlxe Elohim Revealed. [chap. v. 

sees the end from the beginning, did not intend, upon that oc- 
currence, to change his plan, or modify his requirements. 
Transgression could not abrogate the authority of the law. It 
forfeits all title to any rewards of obedience. But the authority 
of a violated law, even before human tribunals, still remains as 
complete and unquestioned as before transgression; and if this 
be right in relation to the laws of man, much more in respect 
to that of which we speak. It may still be supposed that upon 
the occurrence of transgression, the precept falls into abeyance, 
and the whole authority of the law takes the form of penal in- 
fliction. Against this supposition, the first objection is, that it 
militates against the reason of the law itself. "We have seen 
this to have been, the glory of God; and that, from the nature 
of the case, the relation of the creature binds him with his 
active powers to seek this end. It is not sufficient that God will 
certainly be glorified in him. With this aspect of the matter, 
belonging as it does to God's wisdom and agency, the creature 
has nothing to do, but to wonder and adore. But his active 
powers and capacities are, both in their original and continuance, 
gifts of the divine goodness; and hence, as already shown, per- 
petual debtors to serve his glory, and do his will. Transgres- 
sion has not divested God of this his property; and it is impos- 
sible to conceive how that glory which the susceptibilities of the 
creature passively display, by the endurance of the penalty, can 
in any way release those active powers, from their appropriate 
duties and services ; unless upon a principle which would also 
release the souls and affections of saints and angels from bring- 
ing their tribute, because of that which their bodies render ; and, 
in fine, exonerate all the faculties and members of the being, on 
the score of the subordination and fealty of any one of their 
number. 

But it may be objected, that to require of the creature obe- 
dience to the law, whilst in the act of enduring its penalty, in- 
volves impossibilities, both moral and physical. The supposed 
moral impossibility consists in the fact, that sin implies such a 
disorder of the whole being, and transformation and debasement 
of all the powers, — such a loss of integrity, aversion from God 



sect, xiv.] The Law of God. 219 

and holiness, and bondage to corruption, as precludes the possi- 
bility of unaided return to love and obedience. This inex- 
tricable difficulty, however, in which transgression involves the 
sinner, is one chief element in the sinfulness of sin ; a principal 
cause of the greatness of its condemnation. The incompatibility 
between the law and the position of the transgressor, is involved 
in the very idea of either; and the sinner cannot expect ex- 
emption from its authority on the ground of aversion to its holi- 
ness, or of a disorder in his nature induced by his own apostasy. 
If the objection be well founded, an individual can never commit 
more than a single act of sin. Sin is transgression of the law ; 
and if the transgression sets aside the precept, the party is 
thenceforth free to follow the dictates of his own will. Neither, 
on the one hand, does his disregard of the law constitute sin, nor, 
on the other, will conformity to it constitute virtue. Thus, then, 
angels may sin, but devils cannot ! and he who lives in some 
measure according to the laws of morality and the rule of the 
Scriptures, is on this supposition no more worthy of approval 
than is he who sets at defiance alike the decencies of life and the 
law of God ! In fact, since every idea of morality in the creatures 
refers to a conformity to God's nature as set forth in the law, 
and since those can have no moral character who are not called to 
such conformity, it follows, that the first act of transgression, if 
it abrogates the precepts of the law, robs the creature of moral 
character ; and the blasphemies of devils are not sinful, nor they 
themselves to be accounted wicked ! 

The physical impossibilities, which may be supposed to be 
implied in the continued authority of the precepts of the law, 
whilst the penalty is endured, are, first, that the bonds of the 
penalty preclude the possibility of performing the duties en- 
joined by the law. Thus the spirits in prison cannot assume a 
place amid the adoring throng before the throne. Second, since 
the penalty is suffering, against which nature necessarily and 
involuntarily revolts, it may be supposed to be impossible that 
the sinner can view the law with complacency, and willingly 
submit to its authority; which is, in other words, to be willing 
to suffer its penal infliction. 



220 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. v. 

In regard to the first of these difficulties, we need only here 
remark, that the law does not prescribe any particular forms or 
conditions, as requisite to its requirements. It lays down the 
great principle of supreme love and devotion to the glory of 
God, and leaves to the determinations of God's providence, the 
manner and circumstances in which this principle shall be 
brought into exercise. The law does not require the devils to 
ascend into heaven ; and its penalty forbids it. It does not, how- 
ever, forbid, but by its scourge enforces the demand of supreme 
love and obedience to God, even in hell, and unrepining acquies- 
cence in the punishment which his glory requires for their sins. 
Of this, however, more hereafter. 

But it may be thought unreasonable to require acquiescence 
in the penal infliction. This idea results from a mistaken appre- 
hension, as to what it is of which the acquiescence is predicated. 
It is true that every being must recoil from misery as such ; and 
as true of the slightest pain or discomfort we can realize, as, of 
the intensest agonies of hell. But in this respect, the misery 
of the sinner is no more pleasing to God, than to the victim 
himself. " He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children 
of men." — Lam. iii. 33. " As I live, saith the Lord God, I have 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked." — Ezek. xxxiii. 11. And 
yet he afflicts the righteous, and pours out his fury upon the 
wicked. Afflictions, as they are suffering, he does not himself 
delight in, nor does he require it of the creatures. But as 
satisfaction to his justice, as a means to his own glory, not only 
is it, in general, true that he approves it, but even when the 
victim was the spotless Son of his love, " it pleased the Lord to 
bruise him;" and, whilst recoiling nature, in the Son, cries, in 
the bitter agony, " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
from me," he, who is our pattern, and has shown us perfectly 
what the law demands, by what he wrought and endured, adds 
in holy acquiescence, even when the " pains of hell got hold upon" 
him, — " yet not my will, but thine, be done." This holy example, 
every Christian, in his measure, imitates, whilst he, with the great 
apostle, "glories in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest 
upon him." As, therefore, the law does not require sinners to 



sect, xiv.] The Law of God. 221 

delight in that which is not pleasing to God himself, that is, misery 
in itself considered ; and as the cases above cited and the hourly 
experience of all attest that we may and do look upon suffering 
with complacency in view of proportionate ends to be accomplished 
by it, the contradiction and impossibility which are apprehended 
vanish. 

It may, however, be thought that the difficulty still remains, 
on the other hand ; — that acquiescence and delight in the will and 
glory of God, as seen in his judgments, would rob the curse of 
its sting and the penalty of its power; so that still suffering is 
incompatible with coincident obedience to the law. But is it so, 
that a spirit of rebellion is essential to give the penalty its 
power ? Is it so, that the Governor and Judge of all is de- 
pendent on the hostile co-operation of the victim, in order to 
enforce the threatening of his law ? Is it true, that he has no 
other means for the punishment of sin, than the skilful employ- 
ment of those which flow as natural results from the sin itself, 
in the heart and nature of the sinner ? How, then, are we to 
explain the history of Him who "was led as a lamb to the 
slaughter, and, as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he 
opened not his mouth"? The history of his life and death, alike 
vindicate his own declaration, " I was not rebellious, neither 
turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my 
cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from 
shame and spitting." — Isa. 1. 5, 6. Yet was he "a man of sor- 
rows, and acquainted with grief; . . . stricken, smitten of God, and 
afflicted." — Isa. liii. 3, 4. The assumption here opposed, leads, 
in fact, to the conclusion that the blood of Christ was shed in 
vain. If the penalty is only in its nature competent to bring 
suffering to those who continue to rebel, and submission of 
itself forms heaven in the soul, this implies, in other words, 
that justice is satisfied with submission, without any penal in- 
fliction ; and, in order to the salvation of sinners, it was only 
needful that the Holy Spirit should by his transforming power 
subdue the enmity, and bring the will to conformity with the 
will of God. So that the agonies of Calvary, if this doctrine 
be true, were suffered without necessity. True, indeed, he 



222 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. v. 

who should without repining bow his neck to the stroke of jus- 
tice, and sin no more, would not be condemned by the law to 
endure the fearful scourge of the hardened and resisting rebel. 
But this is only to say that one transgression is not punished 
with the aggravated doom that follows multiplied offences and 
persistent rebellion. 

Thus, we conclude that neither transgression, nor the disorder 
and ruin in the nature of the creature which results from sin, 
nor the dominion of corruption, nor the bondage of the penalty, 
abrogates or relaxes the duty of active obedience to the precepts 
of the law. They retain their integrity and enforce their de- 
mands, though transgression be continual, man's nature a ruin, 
and the penalty enforced in the lowest hell. 

Whilst we thus assert the unchangeableness of the divine law, 
it is not thereby meant to imply that the obligations resulting 
1 15 it suits f rom ^ S P rece pt are circumstantially the same, in 
itself to ail all the varying conditions of the creature. On the 
cases. contrary, the flexibility which adapts it to the 

guidance of the creature, in every variety of situations, is an 
eminent trait of its perfection. The same principle of supreme 
love to God, and regard to his glory, under the guidance of 
which Adam in innocence came freely into the immediate pre- 
sence of his Maker, now precludes approach, except through a 
Mediator. The same rule which at first enforced on him a 
grateful appreciation of the integrity in which he was clothed, — 
after his fall, demanded self-loathing, and repentance for sin; 
and upon the coming in of the promise, required faith in the 
blood of the covenant. As we have seen, the ultimate principle 
from whence the several precepts of the law originate, is the 
duty to glorify God. Hence arise the two tables which require 
supreme love to God, and equal love to our neighbour. These 
two comprehend every requirement of the decalogue. This is 
sufficiently evident in itself, and is unequivocally asserted by 
the Lord Jesus: — "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This 
is the first and great commandment. And the second is like 
unto it : Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these 



sect, xiv.] The Law of God. 223 

two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." — Matt. 
xxii. 37-40. To the same purpose is the language of Paul : — 
" He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou 
shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not 
steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; 
and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly compre- 
hended in this saying, namely : Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is 
the fulfilling of the law." — Bom. xiii. 8-10. Hence the Shorter 
Catechism declares that " The rule which God at first revealed 
to man for his obedience was the moral law;" and immediately 
adds that this rule, "the moral law, is summarily compre- 
hended in the ten commandments;" thus identifying the deca- 
logue, in its essential principles, with the law of creation. 

But it may not be so readily perceived how repentance and 
faith were embraced in that law ; since they suppose sin, which 
the law forbids. True; — but, despite the law, sin has entered. 
Now, what says the law to the sinner ? Precisely the same that 
it spake before transgression: — " Glorify God in your body and 
spirit, which are God's." "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart." But love to God means nothing, if it does 
not imply hatred to whatever is opposed to him. His glory 
cannot be asserted, without abasing whatever exalts itself 
against him. To love his holiness, is the same thing as to abhor 
its opposite. Thus, he who finds sin in himself — as it is opposi- 
tion to God's glory, dishonour to his holiness, and rebellion 
against his sovereignty — is obliged to exercise self-loathing and 
abasement, to hate his sin and turn from it, by the terms of the 
very precept which was inscribed on the heart of innocence in 
the garden. So also of faith. The sinner sees, in the work and 
offices of Christ, justice satisfied, and mercy revealed; the 
powers of darkness destroyed, and the race of man redeemed; 
God's wisdom, holiness and truth vindicated ; and new lustre 
shed on all the attributes of the divine nature. His duty of 
love to God and zeal for his glory at once calls him to admire 
and adore the wisdom, grace and glory here revealed, and yield 
himself a willing and obedient servant to Him that was cruci- 



224 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. v. 

fled; believing his word, and trusting his love and power for 
salvation. 

Another point which it is important to note, is that the duty 
of repentance and new obedience which the law thus imposes 
upon transgressors, it enjoins entirely irrespective of any plan 
of salvation which God may in his grace devise. The fact that 
Satan has no escape from the chains of darkness, makes it none 
the less his duty to loathe and abhor his sins, and adore and 
serve his Creator and Judge. Had no Saviour ever been pro- 
vided for our ruined world, sin would have been just as evil as 
now, and abhorrence of it and return to obedience as much the 
duty of every child of Adam. Because individuals severally 
have no pledge that they are predestinated to a place among the 
ransomed throng, no one is any the less required to abase him- 
self in the dust, and adore the justice which will not let sin go 
unpunished. Although they do not know that Christ died with 
a purpose of salvation personally for them, it still becomes and 
is required of them, to admire and rejoice in the glorious grace 
which is revealed in the cross. The law is not less righteous, 
nor its precept less binding, because of transgressions already 
wrought, or the curse already realized. It not only enjoins on 
the angelic hosts perfect holiness and loftiest praise ; on the 
ransomed throng in heaven, all the holy affections and joyful 
adoration which they exercise; and on believers here, every 
grace of the Spirit; but upon devils and wicked men, deep 
abasement and repentance; and upon all, universal obedience, 
as imperative and as perfect as though sin had never shed a 
stain on the fair creation of God. 

Yet, whilst thus the law enjoins every duty, it provides no re- 
lief from the condemnation of past transgressions, even to the 
humble penitent who walks in new obedience. It knows nothing 
but precept and penalty; and the sinner who shall come to the 
tribunal of the law, clothed in every grace, — though he have re- 
pentance, and faith, and love, and joy ; if he have not some better 
way than these, will not find them all avail to purchase indem- 
nity, or even to mitigate the punishment of one little sin. At 
the bar of rectitude his graces will all confess, " "We are un- 



sect, xv.] The Law of God. 225 

profitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do." 
Hence the apostle declares that " by the deeds of the law there 
shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the 
knowledge of sin," — Rom. iii. 20; and again, " If righteousness 
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." — Gal. ii. 21. 

The reduction of the requirements of the law to the form of a 
written code after the fall, was a singular act of grace to man. 
a 16. Offices Prior to the fall, the law written on Adam's heart 
of the written constituted an abundant revelation of moral excel- 
Law ' lence, for his imitation; and the one principle of love 

was sufficient for his guidance, thus enlightened, in the right 
performance of all his duties. By the apostasy, the clearness 
and truthfulness of Adam's spiritual vision was lost. He no 
longer sees holiness in its true beauty, nor sin in its real de- 
formity. To man, thus involved in darkness, the written law 
was given as " a lamp to his feet and a light to his path." " It 
was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come, 
to whom the promise was made." — Gal. iii. 19. The reannounce- 
ment of the law, in such circumstances, was a proclamation of 
mercy ; even although every precept was arrayed in curses. It 
was a pledge that God's love still rested on man, since he pro- 
vided thus for dispelling his moral darkness ; and, in the fact 
that the precept was thus repeated, man had an assurance that 
the curse was not yet endowed with the sceptre. The offices of 
the law, thus given, are several. (1.) It constitutes a new reve- 
lation of the divine perfections, which had before shone imme- 
diately on the soul, in unveiled radiance and beauty. That reve- 
lation being lost, and its light extinguished, God gives it here 
anew, in a form and permanence which are independent of the 
blinded mind and perverse will of fallen man. As such, its in- 
structions and provisions are paramount. They supersede any 
obscure traces which may still remain of the law written in the 
heart, in its office as a standard of reference by which to put 
a difference between the holy and unholy, the pure and the vile. 
(2.) It is a reassertion and enforcement of God's sovereignty^ 
unimpaired by man's treason and rebellion. In this capacity it 
comes with precisely the same authority which was at first pos- 

15 



226 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. v. 

sessed by the law in the heart, — to wit, the absolute authority 
of God, the Creator. This, its supreme authority, is attested 
and sealed by conscience, God's minister sitting in the heart. 
(3.) It is given to make sin inexcusable, — to discover and convict 
in its true enormity the depravity, which, in the ungodly, other- 
wise lies undiscovered. This it does in two ways. It exposes 
the evil of the deeds of men, by comparison with its require- 
ments ; and it arouses the depravity of the heart into action, by 
presenting before it the image of that Holy One whom the carnal 
nature instinctively hates. By the hostility thus aroused, it is 
detected and exposed, in its true character, as enmity against 
God. " The law entered that the offence might abound." " Sin, 
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew 
me." — Rom. v. 20, vii. 11. This it does, not by efficiently 
causing, but by drawing out, and condemning, sin. (4.) It serves 
as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ ; and this, alike as its 
terrors constitute a scourge of conviction, attesting to us our 
need of a mediator ; and as its instructions testify of Him, by 
whom all its precepts are fulfilled, and its curse satisfied. 
(5.) It, further, is a sanctifying agent to the people of Christ. It 
serves as a guide to lead their feet through the darkness of this 
world to the light of heaven. This it does, not by its scourge of 
terrors, but by detecting and exposing to their abhorrence, the 
corruptions which remain in them; and by the exhibition to 
their faith of the beauty of God's holiness. " Where the Spirit 
of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face be- 
holding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into 
the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of 
the Lord."— 2 Cor. iii. 17, 18. 

We have said that the very reannouncement of the law to 
fallen man, was a pledge of grace. Nor is it a ground of de- 
lusive confidence. It is true, that by the deeds of the law no 
flesh shall be justified. It is faith that justifies. And yet, not 
faith, but that perfect obedience which it pleads ; — that spotless 
righteousness of One, behind whom faith hides alike itself and 
the sinner. As Immanuel appears at the tribunal of justice, and 
bows to the stroke of the curse, the law shines forth in new 



sect, xvi.] The Lav: of God. 227 

honour by his obedience until death; and justice smiles in perfect 
satisfaction, and adorns the ungodly in robes of attested inno- 
cence, and garlands of paradise. Thus is the believer justified, 
— not by a legal righteousness, as of his own performing ; and 
yet, by a righteousness the merit of which is in its conformity to 
the law; and whose acceptance is at its bar, on the ground of a 
complete satisfaction to all its claims; the righteousness of 
another, even of Jesus Christ, who was "made of a woman, 
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the 
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." — Gal. iv. 4, 5. 
Thus the holiness of God is illustrated, and his justice main- 
tained ; the eternal authority of the royal law is vindicated, and 
its honour restored ; whilst, by its award, the ungodly are justi- 
fied, and sinners enthroned as sons of God. " Oh the depth of the 
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How un- 
searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"' 
— Eom. xi. 33. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE PEINCIPLE OF THE LAW. 

"Whilst the eternal power and Godhead of the Most High are 
clearly seen in the things that are made, the Scriptures announce 
§ l. God's to us another class of divine attributes, of which the 
moral attri- mere works of creation, as such, contain no trace ; and 
which no amount of merely intellectual capacity and 
research could either discover or apprehend. They are enume- 
rated and described in the Scriptures under various designations, 
such as, wisdom, righteousness, justice, truth, goodness, love 
and mercy. The consummate designation in which these all are 
comprehended is, holiness ; and God, as possessed of these attri- 
butes, announces himself as he " whose name is, Holy." These 
various titles are not intended to designate characteristics 
peculiar to the creative and providential working of God; nor 
accidents merely of the divine subsistence; but ineffable har- 
monies, which are essential, eternal and unchangeable in the 
very being and essence of the Triune God. These attributes, as 
they are essential in the nature of the I AM, must of necessity 
have their proper relation to, and termination in, God him- 
self. If love, for example, be so essential in God, that the 
Scriptures declare that " God is love," it follows that there 
is a sphere in the divine nature appropriate to the exercise of 
love, even though the creation had never been formed, nor man 
experienced the riches of redeeming grace. Further, these at- 
tributes are all characteristic of relations of community. Right- 
eousness, truth, justice, goodness, love, — all these are indicative 
of moral relations between parties ; and, since they are essential 
in the divine nature, they attest the essential and necessary 
plurality of the divine subsistence. Having their fundamental 



sect, i.] The Principle of the Laiv. 229 

basis in the unity of the divine essence, their essential position 
is in the sphere of the relations which subsist between the Per- 
sons of the Godhead. Of the inscrutable and adorable moral 
relations thus indicated, the Scriptures give many intimations. 
The most signal and interesting of these consist in the covenant 
provisions, which were eternally made by the Godhead, for the 
revelation of the divine glories, in creation and providence, and 
especially in the salvation of man. Of that eternal covenant, 
we shall hereafter speak particularly. It is sufficient, here, to 
remark, that its formation is only explicable upon the admission 
that the Persons of the Godhead do sustain toward each other 
relations such as we have attributed to them ; — that the announce- 
ment to us of such a covenant is manifestly designed to make 
known to us these relations ; — that the infallible fulfilment of its 
terms we are taught to expect, upon the ground of the faithful- 
ness of the several Persons, as pledged in it to the relations 
thus revealed; and that every element in the covenant, and 
step in its fulfilment, tends to the unfolding and illustration of 
them. 

The student of the nature of God, who should pause with the 
doctrine of the unity of the divine essence, would deprive him- 
self of access to any but the natural attributes of the infinite 
Spirit. Viewing God in the single light of his indivisible es- 
sence, there is no basis upon which we can arrive at the disco- 
very of any other characteristics than such as belong to bound- 
less power and intelligence, — such as self-existence, immensity, 
omnipotence, eternity, omniscience, mechanical ingenuity and 
skill, — the attributes of an infinite artificer. It is not until the 
doctrine of the Trinity is recognised that we discover any ground 
upon which we can ascribe moral attributes to God, as essential 
in him ; or attach any meaning to the phraseology in which such 
ascriptions are made. He who denies the doctrine of the Trinity 
may, notwithstanding, attribute a moral nature to the Almighty. 
But what idea can we attach to the title, righteous, as applied 
to One who, a simple unit, fills an eternal solitude? What is 
meant by calling him, true, who has no communion with any; 
as there is no existence beside him? It may be said that God 



230 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. vi. 

is righteous and true in his dealings with his creatures. But 
the recognition of any attribute in God, the termination of 
which is necessarily in the creatures, forces us to the conclusion 
that the creation is necessary to him; so, denying his indepen- 
dence, and, therefore, his infinitude and Godhead; or else com- 
pels us to admit the supposed attribute to be a mere accident of 
the Creator's voluntary relation to his works ; and, therefore, 
not predicable of the divine essence. The stoical doctrine of the 
relation of Jove to Fate, is a common resource, to escape from 
the difficulty here suggested. The theory of "the nature of 
things," which we have before considered, is only pagan stoicism 
modernized, and assuming a more specious name. The doctrine, 
however false, and deistical in its elements and tendencies, is so 
far valuable, as it attests the necessity which the soul of man 
realizes, for a plurality, in order to a moral nature in God ; — a 
necessity which induces the ascription of divine attributes to 
something else than God himself; be it known as Fate, or the 
Nature of Things, the Eternal Principles, or whatever else. If 
the theory is sometimes held by those who in terms recognise 
the Trinity, its logical relations are none the less certain ; and 
it will be found ordinarily associated, in such cases, with exceed- 
ingly inadequate conceptions of the true doctrine of the Triune 
God. The ascription of moral attributes to God, implies rela- 
tions, — implies community. And if the attributes belong to his 
essence, so must the relations and community which they imply. 
Thus, the doctrine of the divine unity, comprehending with it 
the natural attributes, constitutes the vestibule of the temple of 
divine truth, in which the revelation goes no further than is suf- 
ficient to attest of God, that He is. The doctrine of the Trinity 
is the door, through which entering, we see unfolding the inner 
mysteries of God, the moral glories of the divine nature; in 
which is contained the full response to the question, what He is, 
— to wit, a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, 
wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. 

The moral attributes of the divine nature, as essential in it, 
and exercised between the divine Persons, constitute the ground 
of the infinite blessedness of God. Of this we have intimation 



sect, i.] The Principle of the Laiv. 231 

in many places in the Scriptures. Thus, in a passage to which 
we have already given special consideration, the Son of God 
says, in respect to the eternity which was before the creation, 
"Then I was by him (the Father), as one brought up with him: 
and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." — Pro v. 
viii. 30. In the prayer which closed his ministry upon earth, the 
Kedeemer says to the Father, "And now, Father, glorify 
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee 
before the world was." — John xvii. 5. Here, the Son alludes 
to a glory enjoyed by him, arising out of voluntary though 
eternal moral relations between him and the Father. So, the 
first expression, given by the Son to his consent to undertake 
for man, is in terms of infinite love to the Father, and compla- 
cence in his will: — "Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will, my 
God; yea, thy law is within my heart." — Ps. xl. 7, 8. This lan- 
guage, is undoubtedly characteristic of the Son as incarnate. 
But, as it is indicative of the reason of the assumption of the 
flesh, it applies more immediately to his antecedent state. On 
the other hand, " the Father loveth the Son, and hath given 
all things into his hand." — John iii. 35. 

The attributes, thus essential in the nature of God, — thus 
characteristic of him as the Triune, — thus inscrutably exercised 
I 2. God gio- among those blessed Persons, in ineffable harmonies 
ries in them. an d infinite blessedness and glory, — are regarded 
with an infinite complacence and delight by that glorious One, 
in whom they thus dwell. "The righteous Lord loveth right- 
eousness." — Psalm xi. 7. And the discovery and honour of 
these moral perfections was the principal end had in view, in 
the whole plan and work of God. This appears very clearly 
attested, in that remarkable revelation which was made by God 
to Moses, at Mount Sinai. Moses asked the Lord, "I beseech 
thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my good- 
ness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord 
before thee ; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, 
and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, 
Thou canst not see my face ; for there shall no man see me and 
live. And the Lord said, Behold there is a place by me, and 



232 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vi. 

thou shalt stand upon a rock : and it shall come to pass, while 
my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, 
and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by : and I will 
take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts ; but 
my face shall not be seen." — Ex. xxxiii. 18-23. In fulfilment 
of this promise, "the Lord passed by before him, and pro- 
claimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long- 
suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy 
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and 
that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of 
the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, 
unto the third and to the fourth generation." — Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7. 
Thus did God proclaim to Moses, the moral perfections of his 
nature, as being the highest glories of the Godhead which crea- 
ture is capable to apprehend. 

Further, Moses is here assured that, as to the essential glory 
of God, — that ineffable unity, harmony and love which subsist 
between the Persons, by virtue of their common subsistence in 
the one divine essence, — that glory which the blessed Three be- 
hold in each other and realize in themselves, — it is beyond the 
power of mortal vision. "Whom no man hath seen, nor can 
see." — 1 Tim. vi. 16. Not the face, but the back parts of Je- 
hovah are revealed to the adoration of Moses and the people of 
God. The perfections of God are not made known in their 
essential aspect. If thus disclosed, either would they be alto- 
gether unintelligible to the creatures, or else finite powers must 
fail, and the beholders must wither and perish under the con- 
suming power of the intolerable light. Hence, the creatures 
are not called upon to behold them in the light of their own 
native glory, as it shines with infinite brightness from God's im- 
mediate face ; but in the modified light derived from the relations 
which he has seen good to assume to his intelligent creatures in 
the person of the Son. "No man hath seen God at any time. 
The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father — 
God manifested in the flesh — he hath declared him." In his 
person, God is proclaimed to the creatures, "merciful and gra- 
cious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." 



sect, ii.] The Principle of the Laiv. 233 

These attributes constitute "a shadow" of the essential glories 
which they proclaim, "and not the very image of the things." 

The excellence of the perfections, thus proclaimed to the crea- 
tures, as constituting the highest glory of God, does not consist 
§ 3. Their es- in conformity to any extrinsic standard, nor in 
eentiai nature obedience to any law, or rule, binding as a prin- 
anrf evidence. ^ q£ ^ Qr obligation# The ultimate Cause of 

this excellence is the essence of God ; beyond which there is no 
existence, whether of principle or being ; and above which there 
is no law; upon which, therefore, there can be no obligation. 
And the perfection of the several Persons of the Godhead — the 
excellence which they see in each other, and reveal to the crea- 
tures — does not consist in mutual conformity to any extrinsic 
law or rule of duty, as toward each other ; which would be, to 
suppose them, not only several, in person, but in essence also; 
and subordinate to some superior authority. On the contrary, 
the light which is shed upon this ineffable mystery, in the word 
of God, reveals it as consisting in that perfect harmony, — that 
unanimity in thought, purpose and action, — that equal mutual 
love, delight in each other's glory, and community in it, — which 
results immediately and of necessity from the fact that in essence 
they are One, and that One is Love. It would be absurd, to talk 
of the hand, as being bound in a moral obligation to the head, 
or other member of the body, to protect or provide for it. The 
relation of the members of the body, as between themselves, is 
not one of law and moral obligation ; but of identity in the body, 
and community of interest. Much more absurd is it, to imagine 
one Person of the blessed Godhead, bound under any essential 
obligation of duty, as toward another. The relations are not 
those arising out of law, and enforced at its tribunal ; but rela- 
tions of identity, which are sustained and satisfied by the per- 
fect mutual confidence and trust, resulting from oneness of glory 
and blessedness, will and power, founded in absolute oneness of 
essence and Godhead. In other words, the law, the only law, 
of the relations of the several Persons to each other, is, the 
unity of their essence, the oneness of the Deity. But "no 
man hath seen God at any time." And, whilst thus much is 



234 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vi. 

clearly attested by the Scriptures, and therefore to be received 
by the people of God; it becomes us, here, to stand in awe, 
admire and adore; rather than curiously to inquire. Said the 
Angel to Manoah, "Why askest thou my name, seeing it is 
secret?" — Judg. xiii. 18. 

The infinite excellence of the divine perfections constitutes at 
once the ultimate fact, in all true moral science, and the first 
principle in all sound argument on moral questions. And, like 
all other ultimate truths, whilst it asserts a rightful control over 
all moral reasoning, it claims independence of all; and demands 
acceptance and the sceptre in its own right. God's perfection is 
above all argument, as his nature is above all comprehension. 
Its evidence consists in the fact that it is the sum of the attri- 
butes of the I AM. It is attested by the Three that bear record 
in heaven, who glory in that perfection. It is attested by all 
the blessed hosts of heaven, who admire and adore the beauties 
which they behold in the nature of God ! It is acknowledged 
by the reluctant tribute of man's alien heart. It is verified by 
the exulting joy and praise of Christ's redeemed people; who, 
the more they learn to appreciate it, admire and rejoice the 
more. The hostility of God's enemies, even, testifies to his ex- 
cellence ; as in them the fact is seen, that none but the malignant 
and the vile, who are at war with their own natures as much as 
with God, doubt or question his perfection. To the creatures, 
it cannot rationally be a question, whether the attributes of the 
Creator are infinitely excellent. He is the creative I am, the 
All in all. As such, the intelligent creatures discover, in his 
nature, the norm of their being, — the complement of their capa- 
cities, — the life in whom they live and move and have their being, 
— the source of all good and fountain of pleasure and blessedness, 
in whose presence and smile there must be to them fulness of joy. 
Nothing but the enormous evil and power of sin over the soul 
can explain the fact that a question should ever be raised on 
this fundamental point. Nothing but atheism can grow out of 
the fearful skepticism which cavils here. To him who hesitates 
on this subject there is no God, and the universe is one fearful 
moral abyss, whelming the soul, over which clouds and thick dark- 



sect, in.] The Principle of the Law. 235 

ness gather their gloom. No wonder that, with the principles on 
this subject which Dr. Beecher propounds, he should have 
realized the dark and distressful experience of which he speaks 
in his chapter on " The eclipse of the glory of God."* Alas ! 
that he should have failed to detect the real cause and to seek 
the true and only remedy. It consists in the unquestioning 
faith of a little child. 

The fundamental aspect, in which the revealed attributes of 
the divine nature present themselves, is, as an outshining of 
3 4 D ' f G"°d' s perfections; for the purpose of being appre- 
their reveia- hended by the creatures, in their own proper beauty 
tion - and loveliness. The end accomplished, thus, is 

twofold; — the honour of those perfections, as thus seen and ad- 
mired by the creatures ; — and the happiness of the creatures ; 
to whom the highest blessedness must arise, from the simple 
apprehension of these admirable features of their glorious 
Creator. These results flow natively and immediately from the 
perception of the divine glory, by the intelligent creatures; in 
whatever mode it is discovered; whether by more or less imme- 
diate intuition, or through more remote reflection from the 
works of God. And it is altogether conceivable that the intelli- 
gent creatures might have been so constituted and endowed by 
the Creator, as to have apprehended and rejoiced in the glory 
thus revealed, as in itself worthy of all admiration, for its beauty 
and propriety to God, — without realizing any obligation to imi- 
tate it; or sustaining any such relations or possessing such at- 
tributes as to render the imitation possible. Evidently, that 
sense of obligation which we realize, impelling us to the imita- 
tion of God's perfections, does not result, immediately and of 
necessity, from the mere fact that we are endowed with an ap- 
prehension of them; but is superadded by God, as a distinct 
element in the means which he has provided, for the display of 
his own glory and the happiness of the creatures. It is true 
that to us, as now constituted, the apprehension does bring with 
it a corresponding obligation. But the two elements are clearly 

* Beecher's Conflict of Ages, chap. xiii. 



236 The FAoMm Revealed, [chap. vi. 

traceable to different springs. Had God not enjoined upon the 
creatures the imitation of what they see in him, but left them 
to their own discretion, there would have been a propriety, a 
fitness and beauty, in the imitation; but no obligation, no 
binding authority. The propriety and beauty of holiness arise 
out of the nature of the Holy One. The duty implies obliga- 
tion, authority; and arises from the will of the sovereign 
Creator. By endowing the moral intelligences with attributes, 
and placing them in relations, adapted to the imitation of his 
moral character, and planting in their bosoms a -sense of the 
obligation and duty of such imitation, the Creator has provided, 
in a most wonderful manner, for his own glory and the good of 
the creatures. His glory is enhanced, as, in every moral intel- 
ligence, its likeness is shed abroad and beheld by all; and as, 
thereby, his goodness is especially illustrated, in the consequent 
happiness which they realize. They are thus blessed, not only 
in beholding the images, which, all around, shine in the beauty 
of the Creator's likeness; but also, as, in the imitation of the 
moral nature of God, they realize a happiness like that which is 
essential in him, by virtue of his glorious holiness. 

In the adaptation of the created intelligences to offices and 
ends such as are here indicated, the elements in their constitu- 
tions, which are of the most significance, as relating to the pre- 
sent subject, are, their moral natures, and personality. The 
word, nature, we have formerly defined to be the designation of 
a permanent force, dwelling in a substance. A moral nature is 
one, the essential characteristics of which are reason, will, and the 
moral sense, or conscience. The functions of conscience, as we 
have also seen, are two. Its first and fundamental office is 
the perception of that moral beauty and glory which characterize 
the moral nature of God, — the apprehension of the loveliness 
of holiness, and deformity and evil of sin. Viewed in this light, 
this faculty is properly designated, the moral sense; and is pre- 
dicate, in a certain sense, of God, as well as of the creatures. 
The second is, the recognition of the duty and obligation of 
conformity to the holiness, the beauty of which is thus disco- 
vered, and of avoiding the opposite. In this sense, conscience 



sect, iv.] The Principle of tJie Law 237 

is the attestation, in the heart, to the controlling authority of 
God's will; and is peculiar to the creatures. The proper subject 
of a moral nature is a spiritual substance. In no other mode 
have we any reason to imagine it possible for it to exist at all. 

A person, is a several subsistence, which is endowed with a 
moral nature. The word, person, is expressive of the severalty ; 
whilst the phrase, moral agent, indicates the efficiency of such 
a subsistence. In the blessed Trinity, each several subsistence 
is a Person; of whom, the Three subsist in common in one un- 
divided nature and essence. Among the angelic hosts, each one 
is a several person, having a distinct and several nature. Among 
men, a nearer likeness of God is seen, in a plurality of persons, 
possessing a several and distributive property in one common 
nature; whilst their kindred to the dust is proclaimed by cor- 
poreal bodies ; which are unessential to the personality, although 
essential to the normal mode of its existence. The relationship 
which subsists between men, by virtue of their community of 
nature, is a shadow of the divine unity, which falls infinitely 
short of the intimacy and identity which are realized in the 
blessed Persons of the Godhead. Yet is it a very signal element 
in the matter of man's moral likeness to God. It constitutes an 
adaptation qualifying him to imitate the divine perfections, by 
the fulfilment of the offices growing out of the relation. It is 
a feature in which man is thus distinguished above the angels. 
And its counterpart and antitype — the unity of the saints, by 
communion in one Spirit, and membership in one body, the body 
of Christ — will constitute the crowning glory of all the splen- 
dours of heaven. 

Prom the facts and considerations at which we have thus 
glanced, we derive this conclusion, — that the law is not to be 
regarded as an expression of the mere will of God, adapted, on 
the principles of expediency, to our antecedent estate; nor, on 
the other hand, as the embodiment of principles in accordance 
with which God is bound, if he create, to govern, his rational 
creatures. But, God having, in sovereignty and freedom, de- 
termined to reveal his own perfections, the creatures were 
formed with moral endowments and relations, for the express 



238 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vi. 

purpose of fitting them to correspond with and satisfy the re- 
quirements of a law, in which the perfections of God should be 
set forth. The law takes the precedence; it is first in the order 
of nature; and is determinate of what the creatures should be. 
It was not ordained for man, or any other creature. But they 
were made for it, — for the exhibition of the attributes, which, 
essential in God, are revealed in the law. 

The principles here presented further indicate at once the 
reason, the propriety and the principle of the law of God. Its 
3 5 The prin- principle is, conformity to the moral nature of God ; 
dpie thus de- its reason is, the revelation of the glory of that 
duced. nature ; and its propriety consists in the excellence 

of the perfections thus honoured, and the fitness there is that 
the creatures of God should concur to his glory. That the prin- 
ciple of the law is, as here stated, conformity of the creatures to 
God's moral image, the testimony of the Scriptures is abundant. 
" The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." 
— Eom. vii. 12. And, being so, its reason is stated in those words 
of God, — " Be ye holy, for I am holy." — 1 Pet. i. 16. Again, John 
declares that "God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth 
in God, and God in him ;" — 1 John iv. 16 ; and, such being the case, 
the law, as expounded by our Saviour, is summed in two words : 
— " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with 'all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and 
great commandment. And the second is like unto it : Thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two command- 
ments hang all the law and the prophets." — Matt. xxii. 37-40. 
And, reducing these all to one precept, Paul comprehends the 
whole law in one word: — " Love is the fulfilling of the law." — 
Rom. xiii. 10. This principle of conformity to God, is, by the 
Saviour, put at the basis of his whole teaching, in that discourse 
on the mount which closes an exposition of the true nature and 
spirituality of the law of God, in these terms : — " Ye have heard 
that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate 
thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them 
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
them which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye 



sect, iv.] The Principle of the Law. 239 

may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : for he 
maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth 

rain on the just and on the unjust Be ye therefore perfect, 

even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." — Matt. v. 
43-48. Thus the perfection of God is the standard and model 
set up for our example and imitation in the law. 

Whilst, therefore, we have seen the authority of the law of 
God to rest solely upon the unquestionable and unlimited right 
of God as Creator, its principle originates in the infinite excel- 
lence of the nature of God the Holy, the God of love. As we 
have already suggested, and is self-evident, it is altogether con- 
ceivable, and to God possible, that he should have created beings 
competent to behold and admire, but not to imitate, the per- 
fections of the Creator. It is, therefore, certain that the duty 
of imitation does not arise of necessity and 'per se, out of the 
beholding them. And it is equally certain from the testimony 
of the Scriptures, as considered in the last chapter, that the 
obligation does, in fact, grow out of the sovereign will of the 
Creator. That will, as contained in the law written in the 
heart and attested by conscience, is the ultimate ground of all 
moral obligation, the ultimate test of duty, to the creatures. 
On the other hand, inasmuch as God's will cannot but be, as he 
is, holy, as it is nothing but expression given to the perfections 
of his nature, it follows, that whatever God commands us must 
be most holy and excellent. 

The defenders of the authority of the nature of things are 
accustomed to insist, that a rejection of it involves the conclu- 
sion, that there is no intrinsic difference between holiness and 
sin, — that they are only discriminated by the fact, that the one 
is commanded and the other forbidden. If there be indeed no 
other distinction than that which proceeds from the nature of 
things, then, truly, is there no essential difference. For, as the 
nature of things is neither a god nor even a creature, it is im- 
possible that any thing should proceed from it. But, if men are 
willing to attribute a sovereignty over the whole moral system 
to such a nothing as is this, — why is it not more reasonable to 
attribute it, where most righteously it belongs, to that infi- 



240 T!w Elolilm Revealed. [chap. vi. 

nite ; self-existent, eternal and all-glorious Essence, from whom — 
if it be any thing at all — even the nature of things, with all 
things else, must have derived existence ? Is it absurd to sup- 
pose the moral nature of God, which is nothing else but his very 
essence, to be self-existent, independent, determinate and un- 
changeable ? Is it absurd or untrue to attribute to it, as such, 
infinite excellence, — excellence, not relative, but absolute; not 
ascertained by reference to any other standard, but in and of 
itself? If this be absurd, it must be equally so, in respect to 
any imaginable standard of excellence ; and the result is, that, 
there being nothing excellent, in itself, there can be no stand- 
ard ; and hence no excellence at all ! 

But, if God's nature be, as unquestionably it is, in and of itself 
absolutely excellent, infinitely good, then have we a distinction, 
real, essential and infinite, between moral good and evil. The 
one is the essential glory of the blessed God. The other is the 
negative of God ! Thus have we an abundantly satisfactory 
solution of those tremendous realities, which eternity is des- 
tined to unfold, dependent on the difference between good and 
evil, between the likeness of God, and that which he hates. 

The transcription of the law from the nature of God, is that 
which constitutes its excellence; on which the Scriptures so 
a 6. it is a largely expatiate. Addressed to a moral sense, with 
perfect reve- which the created intelligences were endowed, for 
the express purpose of enabling them to apprehend 
the moral glory of God, — it is a perfect revelation of that glory. 
In thus speaking, we view the law as inclusive of its sanctions, 
as well as precepts. Both the penalty, and that promise which 
constitutes it a covenant of life, are parts of the law. Although 
neither of them is essential to law, as such, they are both — the 
promise as much as the penalty — incorporated, as essential ele- 
ments of that law which God has given to his creatures, as a 
revelation of his holiness, goodness and justice. Whilst the im- 
perative utterance of its precepts announces the rightful sove- 
reignty of the creative I am, — their provisions proclaim his 
purity and holiness, and his abhorrence of evil ; the penalty attests 
his infinite justice, which will reward the evil according to their 



sect, v.] The Principle of the Law. 241 

deeds; and the promise proclaims his boundless goodness and 
love, lavishing favours, not in proportion to the merits of the 
creatures, but according to the beneficence of a God. Again, these 
various attributes are illustrated in the lives of the creatures, 
as seen in the light of the law. The beauty of God's holiness 
shines in the holiness of those who walk in conformity to the law ; 
— his blessedness, in the happiness which they enjoy, springing 
out of their holiness ; — and his goodness, in this and the added 
blessedness which they realize in his smile, and from the exer- 
cise toward them of his loving power. Yet more glorious does 
that holiness appear, as it is contrasted with the wickedness of 
those who transgress the law; and the terrible majesty of his 
justice is seen, in the punishment which, denounced in the law, 
is inflicted by the hand of the righteous Judge. Especially in 
Christ do all these things shine in ineffable lustre. Humbling him- 
self to become a servant to the law, its royal authority was thus 
proclaimed. His life of holy conformity to its precept consti- 
tuted him an ensample, in whom its perfection, and that of him 
whom it proclaims, is seen. His agonizing death, under its over- 
whelming curse, was an astonishing display of God's inexorable 
justice; and, at the same time, the compassion toward sinners, 
which the scene of Calvary attests, and the infliction, which, at 
the demand of the law, was laid upon the Son of God's love, join 
to witness, that God's justice, pursuing sin, fearful though it be, 
is infinitely removed from what we might imagine, as the re- 
venging fury of incensed Omnipotence. They proclaim, in un- 
mistakable terms, the penal infliction of God's curse to be the 
exercise of a holy rectitude of One who, enthroned in calm tran- 
quillity, far above the strife of creature passion, will, in pure and 
unchanging justice, render the reward due to every creature. 

In fine, this holy and eternal law will occupy the throne at 
the last great day. Its decree will proclaim the holiness, the 
truth and justice, the goodness and love, of God, assigning to 
every creature the righteous award; and, when that dread 
assize shall be over, by the power of Omnipotence will every 
word of its decrees be fulfilled. "Whilst the promise of the cove- 
nant heralds the saints to heaven, the sword of the curse will 

16 



242 The Eloliim Revealed, [chap. vi. 

pursue the wicked to hell. In that world of woe, the law fills 
the throne. The blackness of darkness is the horror of its 
frown. A fiery wrath is its only sanction ; and the thunders of 
the curse are its only tones. It testifies, there, in the unwilling 
ears of the lost, and to the awe-struck gaze of heaven's blessed in- 
habitants, that God is sovereign and omnipotent; that he is 
holy ; that he is true, and unchangeable, and just. In heaven, 
too, the law will reign supreme, forever. No longer clothed in 
the form of extrinsic precepts, its principle will shine forth in 
the unveiled glories of God ; whom we now see through its glass 
darkly, but then shall see face to face. And they who behold 
will be like him, because they shall see him as he is. Yet the law 
which reigns in heaven, though the same, is not the same. 
There, as God's people, so, his law, is transformed. Its un- 
changeable holiness remains. Its faithful exhibition of God's 
perfections remains. Nay, it there consists in the unveiling of 
those very perfections, — the unclouded light of God's own face. 
But it rules not, there, in the guise of a master. It wields not, 
there, the scourge of terror ; nor deals in the notes of threatening. 
It speaks not even with the sternness of authority. "We are 
free from the law, by the body of Christ." It has no curse to 
utter; no scourge to wield. Its only sanctions are the smiles of 
God. Its only power is love. 

Thus does the law constitute the basis and medium of all we 
know or can know of God; the reason and cause of all we can 
suffer in hell, and the spring and pledge of growing knowledge and 
blessedness in heaven. Truly, " The law of the Lord is perfect, 
converting the soul ; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making 
wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing 
the heart ; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening 
the eyes ; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever ; the 
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More 
to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; 
sweeter, also, than honey, and the honeycomb. Moreover, by 
them is thy servant warned ; and in keeping of them there is 
great reward." — Psalm xix. 7-11. 



CHAPTEK VII. 

THE NATUEE OF SIN. 

" Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the 
law of God."* Perhaps no more signal illustration could be 
I 1. Sin is named of the extent of man's apostasy from God, 
unlawfulness, than occurs in the superficial and false conceptions 
which are prevalent on the nature and evil of sin. Nor are 
these false opinions confined to the ignorant and the thoughtless, 
"What is sin?" says Pelagius. " Is it a substance at all? or a 
name to which there is no substance, and by which is expressed, 
not a thing, not an existence or bodily substance, but the perform- 
ance of a bad act? I believe this is the case."f "Sin," says 
a disciple of the same theology, "in every form and instance, is 
reducible to the act of a moral agent, in which he violates a 
known rule of duty. "J 

There are a number of words used in the Scriptures, to sig- 
nify sin. Thus, nxcsn ? a missing the mark; jty, a turning out 
of the way; VV$, a passing over the line; ^o, rebellion; S#d ; a 
turning aside. In the New Testament, kpapria, a missing the 
mark ; dvopiia, unlawfulness ; Tiapaftaatz, a passing over the line ; 
napaxorj, disobedience; 7iapdnro)p.a y a stumbling or falling out 
of the path. In all cases, the words point to a standard of recti- 
tude, from which departure takes place. In respect to those 
things to which the name of sin is applied, the following points 
are clearly taught in the Scriptures. 

1. There cannot be sin where there is no moral law, no prin- 
ciple of moral obligation. This is distinctly asserted by Paul : — 
"Where no law is, there is no transgression." — Eom. iv. 15. 

* Shorter Catechism, Qu. 14. 

f Wiggers' Augustinism and Pelagianism, And over, p. 132. 
% Fitch's Discourses on the Nature of Sin. New Haven, 1826, p. 4. 

243 



244 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vii. 

" Sin is not imputed where there is no law." — Eom. v. 13. "By 
the law is the knowledge of sin." — Eom. iii. 20. The same 
principle is implied in the scriptures which are cited under the 
following heads, and will not be questioned. 

2. Wherever there is moral law, — wherever creature is held 
under bonds of moral obligation to God, — in whatever form the 
law is enacted and put forth, — any failure of perfect conformity 
to it, is sin; whether the defect be in the form of transgression 
of the prohibitions ; or in failure of perfect conformity to the 
requirements. "Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also 
the law: for sin is transgression of the law." Literally, 
"Whosoever sins, commits unlawfulness; for sin is unlawful- 
ness." — 1 John iii. 4. "All unrighteousness (ddixla, deflection 
from the rule) is sin." — 1 John v. 17. Not only does this apply 
to active violations of the precept ; but to any coming short of 
its requirements. This is not only involved in the preceding 
scriptures, but is further asserted in many places. Thus, says 
James, "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to 
him it is sin." — James iv. 17. And Paul declares, that "whatso- 
ever is not of faith is sin." — Eom. xiv. 23. 

3. Not only is the name, sin, applied to actions, in the Scrip- 
tures, but it is also used as the designation of an efficient prin- 
ciple in the soul, which is the cause of deeds of transgression. 
Says Paul to the Eomans, "Let not sin reign in your mortal 
body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." — Eom. vi. 12. 
This conception of sin runs through the whole of the discussion 
contained in the sixth and seventh chapters of that epistle; to 
the exegesis of which special attention will be given in another 
place. 

In order to an intelligent application of the general principles 
here stated, it is requisite to notice two or three of those fea- 
$ 2. Pheno- tures of G-od's likeness, in which the moral intel- 
mena of moral Kgences were clothed. The first of these, is the 
fact that they are, to each other, inscrutable; as 
respects any direct or immediate discovery or perception of the 
moral nature, its attributes and attitude. Hence, the inquiry of 
Paul, "What man knoweth the things of a man, save the 



sect, i.] The Nature of Sin. 245 

spirit of man, which is in him? Even so, the things of God 
knowetk no man, but the Spirit of God." — 1 Cor. ii. 11. It is 
only mediately that one created intelligence can come to any 
knowledge of the moral posture and the essential attributes of 
another. 

x\nother point to be noticed, is the relation of resemblance 
which the nature of moral agents bears to the essential perfec- 
tion of God. That perfection consists in the holiness which is 
eternal in him, independent of, and prior to, the first act of 
creation. After that likeness, the moral intelligences were 
created; with attributes and powers, not only resembling God, 
in numerical order and functions, but placed in attitudes of 
moral correspondence and harmony with those of God. Herein 
is the essential and fundamental likeness of God, in which they 
were clothed. And herein is the basis of a moral character; 
of which, as we shall presently see, their actions are the faithful 
indices; but which is altogether independent of action, antece- 
dent to it, and the cause of its moral character. 

Of the fact, that the moral intelligences are thus constituted, 
the evidence is demonstrative. "We have elsewhere seen, that 
the attributes of man's nature sustain specific and definable 
relations, to external nature, to his fellows, and to God. Of 
them, not only is action predicable ; but affinity or attitude also. 
They may, they do, occupy attitudes so determinate, — they have 
affinities so precise, — that, in consequence, their first active 
impulses will infallibly and necessarily be in a given direction, 
and in no other. Thus, Adam, when created, before the first 
exertion of the powers of his nature, was, by his Maker, so con- 
stituted, that all his powers should spontaneously move, in con- 
formity with God's law of holiness. The character of his first 
acts was in no sense contingent; but determined by the attitude 
in which his Maker arrayed the powers of his soul, — the affini- 
ties which he enstamped upon it. This is what is intimated, 
when the Holy Spirit says, that "God made man upright." On 
the contrary, equally certain are the first actings of each soul, 
now born into the world, to be in antagonism to God, and trans- 
gression of his law; — and this, for the like reason, — that, in 



246 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vii. 

consequence of the fall, the attitude of the powers of the soul is 
changed. They are directed away from God, instead of being 
concentrated upon him. The positions thus stated are so nearly 
self-evident, as scarcely to admit of argument. It is universally 
and intuitively felt, that there is something back of the very 
first active impulse of the soul; which determines the character 
and direction of that impulse. No one supposes, for example, 
that the past parsimonious acts of the miser constitute the 
cause of the fact that he will be a miser still. Those are the 
mere proofs, which testify that his nature is such, that he will 
act in a given way. No one doubts for one moment, when a 
child is born, whether it will be of itself disposed to evil. All 
feel that there is, from the first, something in its nature, which 
determines the question, prior to any experiment. Further, it 
is no numerical change in man's powers, which makes the differ- 
ence between Adam, whose nature was holy, and his children, 
who are by nature unholy. The fall did not reduce the number 
of the powers of man's nature, nor change their order in respect 
to each other. Nor does regeneration increase them, nor mo- 
dify that order. But, in the one case, the process was a trans- 
formation of the affinities of the nature, — an apostasy of the 
soul, — a turning away, en masse, of the whole body of powers 
from God. And, in regeneration, there is a restoration of those 
powers to their original position, — a turning of them back, and 
direction of them again to God, as the true centre of their 
attraction. 

The phrase, " turning away," or apostasy, is that which 
the Scriptures habitually use, to express the perversity of 
man, and his spontaneous attitude of enmity toward God; 
and the resumption of a right position, is expressed in corre- 
sponding terms. "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?" — 
Ezek. xxxiii. 11. "Beturn unto me, and I will return unto you, 
saith the Lord of hosts." — Mai. iii. 7. "Ye turned to God from 
idols, to serve the living and true God." — 1 Thess. i. 9. What 
is the precise and intimate nature of that characteristic of the 
human soul, upon which the forms of expression thus employed 
are dependent, we do not know. Experience and Scripture con- 



sect, ii.] The Nature of Sin. 247 

cur, however, in testifying that it is such as to determine, infal- 
libly, the direction in which the active powers of the soul will 
spontaneously move. The engine, which rushes impetuously 
along the track, will move with equal certainty and power in 
the opposite direction, if its attitude be reversed; although the 
motive power and the relative position of the parts of the ma- 
chinery, as toward each other, are precisely the same. So much 
we know, in respect to the soul; — that, as created, all its actions 
flowed in spontaneous harmony and affinity with the law and 
nature of God; whilst, as fallen, they, as certainly and power- 
fully, turn away. Further, we have the unambiguous and 
unequivocal testimony of the Spirit of God, that the soul is the 
responsible cause of the transgression and sin, thus arising. 
Thus, Jesus says to the Pharisees, "0 generation of vipers! 
how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out 
of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; 
and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil 
things." — Matt. xii. 34, 35. And again, "Out of the heart 
proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, 
false witness, blasphemies; these are the things which defile a 
man." — Matt. xv. 19, 20. Says James, "Every man is tempted, 
when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when 
lust hath conceived, bringeth forth sin." — James i. 14, 15. 

The next point, here to be noticed, is the fact, that the moral 
natures of the creatures, thus determinate in their attitude, 
were endowed with a causative power, from which result effects 
correspondent to the cause. This has, in fact, been assumed, 
and illustrated sufficiently, in what has just been said. It is 
only now named, as entitled to distinct and emphatic recogni- 
tion ; and for the purpose of pointing out the principle, in ac- 
cordance with which the causation of moral natures operates. 
That principle is, — that, as is the cause, such must be the effects; 
and hence, from the character of the effects, may the nature of 
the cause be infallibly learned. It is by means of this prin- 
ciple that God has seen good to reveal himself, in his works ; all 
of which, in their perfection, testify to the perfection of their 



248 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vii. 

author. As lie has filled the universe with motion, giving to all 
the creatures forces, that constitute them the causes of ever 
varying phenomena, which shed forth and proclaim the ceaseless 
activity and beneficence of the unwearied Creator ; so has he, in 
an especial manner, endowed man's moral nature with that cau- 
sative force, which impels him to actions, bearing the moral im- 
press of his nature. Thus, the intelligent creatures come to a 
mutual knowledge of themselves, by means of their actions; 
through which they recognise, in each other, images of the 
Creator's activity, and likenesses of his moral attributes, — mir- 
rors designed to reflect his spotless holiness. In fact, the dis- 
tinctive office of action is revelation, — the making known of the 
agent. Thus, God is discovered to the creatures, by the works 
of his hand; and they, to each other, by their actions, severally. 
Hence, all effects are traceable, at last, to the intelligent effi- 
ciency of moral agents ; and the moral character of any given 
act is that of the moral agent, from whom it proceeds. It is in 
view of this characteristic of human nature, that our Saviour 
lays down the canon of judgment, by which the church is to try 
those that come to her as teachers : — " Beware of false prophets, 
which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are 
ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men 
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? Even so every good 
tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth 
evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can 

a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit Wherefore by their 

fruits ye shall know them." — Matt. vii. 15-20. 

Herein is the importance which attaches to human actions; — 
not that there is in them any intrinsic value; but, as they are 
indices to the character of men's nature, and the attitude of 
their souls. They are the means through which, in sustained 
allegiance, the creatures shed upon each other their Maker's 
image, and attest his glory. And they constitute the evidence 
to each other as to the question, — whether they are faithful to 
the office with which they are honoured, — whether their nature 
continues true to the allegiance of Him with whose likeness 
they are endowed, and with whose honour they are intrusted. 



sect, il] The Nature of Sin. 249 

In connection with such, an endowment, the creatures on whom 
it was bestowed were bound, under an obligation proportionably 
§ 3. Moral strong, — that is to say, of infinite authority, — to 
obligation. fulfil the office thus assigned them, and honour and 
serve Him by whom they were created such. That obligation 
is engraven in the nature, and attested by conscience. Such an 
obligation, being moral, and addressing the moral nature, im- 
plies the original investiture of the nature with a freedom, im- 
plying power to continue in the attitude of harmony with the 
divine nature ; or, to turn away, and assume an attitude of an- 
tagonism to God. From all this, it inevitably follows, that all 
the responsibilities and obligations, which can, in any conceivable 
way, attach to a person, must have their ground in the nature, 
and attach themselves essentially to it. Since, in general, every 
kind of obligation implies the exercise of some kind of efficiency, 
and since the moral nature is the only principle of moral effi- 
ciency, in a person, it follows, that all moral obligations must 
lay hold of the nature; else are they altogether nugatory and 
void. Furthermore, we have seen the ultimate principle of all 
moral obligation to be, conformity to God. We have seen man's 
moral nature to have been formed for the express purpose of 
being God's likeness; especially, in his moral attributes, — in 
knowledge, righteousness and holiness. Since, therefore, it is 
evident that nothing which is extrinsic or formal can be in the 
moral likeness of that holy and incomprehensible Spirit, it fol- 
lows, that all obligation — as it implies a requirement to conform 
to the moral likeness of God — must address that, from which 
only the features of that likeness can flow, — the nature of the 
agent. The same conclusion results from yet another line of 
thought. The attributes, by which a moral agent is capable of 
recognising, appreciating and fulfilling the obligations which are 
addressed to him, are reason, conscience and the will. But these, 
although existent in the spiritual substance of the moral agent, 
are not parts of it, but characteristics of the nature, which dwells 
in the substance. Hence, as the claims of the Creator not only 
appeal to the nature, but are cognizable by it alone, it is mani- 
fest that upon it their obligations rest. 



250 The EJoJdm Revealed. [chap. ytl. 

"Whilst, thus, all moral obligations arise out of the constitu- 
tion of the nature, and lay hold, essentially, upon it, the subject 
against which they are enforced, is the person in which the 
nature subsists; and this for evident reasons. It is only in the 
form of a person that a moral nature can subsist. All that is 
proper to the person, or in any way characteristic of it as such, 
grows out of the nature, and is designed and constructed as a 
means for the activity of the nature ; so that the person is but 
the nature embodied in a form adapted to its efficient action. 
It is the organization through which the nature may meet its 
responsibilities, by performing the duties demanded of it. Since, 
therefore, the nature can neither exist, nor, therefore, be respon- 
sible, neither recognise nor satisfy its responsibilities, but as it 
is embodied in a person; and since to it, as thus embodied, the 
obligations which rest upon it, are for this reason by God ad- 
dressed, it follows that persons are the immediate and only sub- 
jects of moral law and responsibility. The nature comprehends 
all the forces which are proper to the person in which it subsists. 
Among these are not only included those of which obligation 
or obedience may be supposed, but those susceptibilities upon 
which may be predicated the realization of suffering, the en- 
durance of punishment. There is, therefore, nothing in the 
person of which exemption can be imagined, as apart from the 
nature. "Were it possible to take away the nature and yet the 
person remain ; — were it possible to suppose any other forces 
proper to the person than all its proper forces, — then would there 
be room for the conception, that the person might be irresponsible 
for the nature and have a responsibility distinct from it. But so 
long as it is true, that the moral nature is that which makes the 
person what it is in all moral respects; and that the only exist- 
ence of the nature is in the person ; it will follow, that the attempt 
to separate the obligations of the nature and of the person is ab- 
surd and preposterous. The person is bound under the responsibi- 
lities which attach to the nature as subsisting therein ; and can 
be held to no others than such as arise thence. The form of the 
obligation is, indeed, modified by the accidents of the person; 
but such accidental forms are always capable of resolution into 



sect, in.] The Nature of Sin. 251 

general principles; which attach essentially to the nature. Every 
accidental form, which, in the varying circumstances of life, our 
duties assume, is capable of being reduced to the one principle of 
love, — to the one duty of conformity with the likeness of Him of 
whom it is testified, that God is love; and unless the given duty 
be performed through the activity of a principle of love, spring- 
ing in the nature, and thence breathing through the soul, it is 
not performed at all. 

In view of the nature of man as here presented, of the office to 
which he was ordained, and the responsibilities under which he 
2 4 Tke lnxc was held, the law utters its precepts and makes all 
addresses the its provisions. Its office, as we have already shown, 
nature. jg twofold. It is in and of itself a revelation of 

God's moral nature, and it is a touchstone by the aid of which 
the intelligent creatures may know themselves and each other, 
as compared with God. Hence, the terms in which the precepts 
of the written law are framed, have respect mainly to actual 
exercises of the powers and affections. These are within the 
cognizance of the creatures ; whilst the attitude of the nature is 
beyond their immediate scrutiny. These only, therefore, can 
they compare with the rule ; and hence, with these chiefly are 
the provisions of the law conversant. 

And yet, neither the design of the law, nor the language in 
which it is framed, will admit of restriction to the mere actions 
of men. The former we have seen to be a revelation of the 
essential nature of God, by the definitions contained in the law. 
and by the likeness to him which it discovers in the creatures. 
Since the moral nature of man was designed to be an image of the 
essential nature of God, no less than were his actions to illustrate 
and shadow forth the activity of God, it follows, of necessity, that 
the only position which man's nature can innocently and right- 
fully occupy, is that of perfect conformity of attitude and actions 
to the office thus assigned and the end thus had in view. And, 
since the law is holy, being a transcript of the nature of the Holy 
One, and designed to assert the obligation of conformity to his 
nature and will, it cannot fail to enforce the obligation thus 
manifest on the very nature and substance of the soul of man. 



252 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vii. 

Its demand cannot be less than that the nature be conformed to 
God's nature, as well as the actions to his working and his will. 

The same conclusion results from the causative relation which 
we have seen to exist between the nature and actions. It would 
be preposterous, to enter into argument, to prove, that, when a 
murder is committed, the crime attaches neither to the wound 
nor the weapon ; but to him who wielded the one and caused 
the other. So, here, when an act of sin occurs, the crime 
attaches essentially, neither to the act, nor the volition whence 
the act proceeded ; but to the soul, the cause of both, — the soul, 
whose perverted powers produced the deed. In fact, every law, 
whether human or divine, recognises this principle. They all 
address the soul itself, — the fountain of actions. If any control 
at all is attempted, it must operate here. If crime is prevented, 
it must be by controlling the cause, — the nature which generates 
the crime. Any other course would be the folly of him who 
should attempt, with the weight of a feather, to stay the pon- 
derous wheel, which moves in obedience to the power put forth 
by the mighty engine; instead of plying the lever, which, 
located at the seat of power, controls its direction. The efficient 
cause of moral action is the proper subject of moral law. This 
is assumed, in all the divine administration; in which, the 
sanctions of the law always attach to the soul of the agent. It 
is a principle of all law, that, if there is guilt, the corpus delicti, 
the crime, is to be sought, not in the act, as such, but in the 
animus of the actor. Men never fail to realize this, in the 
common transactions of life, and decisions of human jurispru- 
dence. It is only in the perversity of unscriptural theology, 
that we find the absurdity of separating the moral character 
from the substance of the soul, and tying it to the vanishing 
deeds of life. 

The idea that responsibility and sin are predicable of actions 
merely, is only con c V- lent with an utter denial that man's nature 
as such owes ai; y thing to God ; or has an office to perform of 
showing forth his glory. It implies, that the reason of the law 
of God, and of the moral obligations, which rest on the creatures, 
consists in some necessity of the divine nature, to which our 



sect, iv.] The Nature of Sin. 253 

active services are, of themselves, important, — that, provided 
our actions maintain an aspect of conformity to the rule, our 
hearts are our own. It ignores the fact, that actions are mere 
empty phenomena, which can in themselves have no possible 
value ; and which, even to the purposes of revelation, convey to 
God nothing new, and merely serve to make known, to each 
other and to themselves, that state of men's nature, and attitude 
of their souls, which is already and immediately known fully to 
God. It is to the soul, that moral responsibility attaches, and 
of which, in the Scriptures, moral good and evil are predicated, 
even prior to and irrespective of any external exercise of its 
powers. It is to the very substance of the soul, that the law 
is addressed; and upon it the penal sanctions of that law are 
enforced. The soul is that, which, in its substance and powers, 
intrinsically, as much as in their exercises, was created and or- 
dained to be the image and glory of God. Conformity of this 
substance to this its exalted office is holiness; the reverse is sin. 

The conclusion thus gained corresponds precisely with what 
has been already shown, as to the comprehensiveness of the 
authority of the law itself, asserting a jurisdiction, which is 
described in a laborious accumulation of terms, as comprehending 
the entire being, — all the heart, soul, mind and strength, — the 
body and the spirit, which are God's. Whilst the law thus 
searches out the springs of man's actions, and penetrates to the 
cause of their moral character, its precept is correspondent to 
the object to which it is addressed. When it says, "Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength," — Mark 
xii. 30, — the injunction lays upon the soul, which is thus in its 
"all" demanded, a requisition that every power shall maintain 
an attitude correspondent with, and productive of, perpetual and 
perfect love and obedience. A failure to conform to this most 
righteous demand, is sin, — is transgression of the law; and 
justly involves him in whom it occurs, in all the responsibilities 
of sin, — God's present frown, and eternal wrath. 

Thii3, then, does the law of God descend to the fountains of 
the soul, — the sources of all the phenomena of intellectual and 



254 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. vii. 

moral agency; by the nature of which, those phenomena are de- 
termined to be good or evil, right or wrong. The substance of 
the soul itself, and all its capacities, were created by God. They 
all belong to him; and, designed to show his glory, are bound to 
do so, in their passive attitude as well as in their active state. 
The precept of the law is unambiguous: — "Be holy, for I the 
Lord thy God am holy." The requirement is, that not the body 
only, but the soul, — not the actions only, but the powers, — should 
be devoted to God, — not by a formal effort of the will merely, 
but by the spontaneity of the whole being. He is the centre 
around whom the soul, in its substance, its powers, and all its 
exercises, should revolve, freely, spontaneously, continually, from 
the first dawning of existence, forever. His law demands holi- 
ness, — a word which does not express any form of mere action, 
but a state of all the powers, and of the nature, itself, conformed 
to God's nature. To this law Christ was conformed, from his 
first conception ; and, in being so, illustrated the extent of the 
requirement of the law, which says, "Be holy." He was, in 
the womb, "that holy thing." To the law, thus comprehensive 
in its demands, thus claiming the allegiance of the soul and the 
nature, as well as the actions and life, want of conformity is sin. 
Here, the doctrine of Edwards, on the moral character of 
actions, presents itself. " One main foundation of the reasons 
§ 5. Edwards' which are brought to establish the forementioned 
doctrine. notions of liberty, virtue, vice, &c, is a supposition 

that the virtuousness of the dispositions or acts of the will, consists 
not in the nature of those dispositions or acts, but wholly in the 
origin or cause of them ; so that if the disposition of the mind or 
act of the will be ever so good, yet if the cause of the disposition 
or act be not our virtue, there is nothing virtuous or praiseworthy 
in it; and on the contrary, if the will in its inclination or acts be 
ever so bad, yet unless it arises from something that is our vice or 
fault, there is nothing vicious or blameworthy in it. . . . Now, if 
this matter be well considered, it will appear to be altogether a 
mistake, yea, a gross absurdity." " Thus, for instance, if the 
vice of a vicious act of will lies not in the nature of the act, 
but the cause ; so that its being of a bad nature will not make 



sect, iv.] The Nature of Sin. 255 

it at all our fault, unless it arises from some faulty determination 
of ours as its cause, or something in us that is our fault ; — then, 
for the same reason, neither can the viciousness of that cause lie 
in the nature of the thing itself, but in its cause ; that evil deter- 
mination of ours is not our fault, merely because it is of a bad 
nature, unless it arises from some cause in us that is our fault ;" 
and so on ad infinitum* This same idea runs through the whole 
argument, in Edwards' Treatise on Original Sin, Part iv. Chap, 
i., — " Concerning that objection, that to suppose men's being born 
in sin, without their choice, or any previous act of their own, is 
to suppose what is inconsistent with the nature of sin;" in which 
chapter he refers his readers, for further light, to the work on 
the Will, from which we here quote. 

The relation of this assumption to Edwards' doctrine of causa- 
tion, is obvious. If the creature be no cause, there is but one 
alternative. Either all acts, as caused by the Holy One, are 
holy; or else, the character of an action is to be sought some- 
where else than in its cause. But the argument is a fallacy, 
involving the latent assumption, that acts have a subsistence and 
moral agency of their own, apart from that of the actor. Strictly 
speaking, acts are without any moral character in themselves ; 
they are not subjects of law, responsible to justice. An act is 
nothing but the agent acting ; and when, in common language, 
we speak of moral attributes attaching to actions, and predicate 
of them praise or blame, we, in fact, mean to attribute these to 
the actor. This is as true of those " internal exercises," of which 
Edwards here speaks, as of outward actions. The reason, there- 
fore, why the moral character of an act is to be sought, not in- 
trinsically in it, but in its cause, is not merely that it is an 
effect, but, that it is an effect of which the moral nature of an 
accountable agent is the cause. Moral intelligences alone are 
responsible ; and that by virtue of the causative moral nature 
which they possess. And the nature, ( as thus causative, is 
responsible for the effects which it produces ; whether they be 
developed within, or extrinsic; — whether they be in the form 

* Edwards on the Will, Part iv. sec. 1. See also sec. 9. 



256 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. vii. 

of apostasy of the very nature itself; or of dispositions and actions 
caused by the apostate condition of the nature, and demonstrative 
of it. Hence, the reason why the moral character of actions is 
not to be sought in their external form, but in their cause. 

In this doctrine of Edwards, and in the whole argument by 
which it is sustained, we find very distinct intimations of the 
" exercise scheme," more fully developed by his pupil, Hopkins, 
that all sin and holiness consist in exercises or actions. In it, 
too, Emmons found the argument with which he vindicates the 
position that G-od is the author of sin. The holiness of the 
cause does not prevent the sinfulness of the action, since the 
moral character of the latter is to be sought in its formal 
aspect, and not in its source. God may, therefore, be the cause 
of men's sins, although he is the God of holiness. 

The general principles thus far presented, apply in common 
to all moral intelligences. In order, however, to the solution of 
I 6. Sin of the problem of man's nature and the responsibilities 
Nature. under which he lies, it is necessary to take into the 

account some additional facts not yet mentioned. In the angelic 
hosts each several individual is possessed of a several nature, 
original in and peculiar to him. The history of the person and 
of the nature is contemporaneous and the same. But in man it 
is different. The nature of the entire race was created originally 
in Adam, and is propagated from him by generation, and so descends 
to all his seed. Hence arise two distinct forms of responsibility : 
the nature being placed under a creative obligation of con- 
formity to the holiness of God's nature, and each several person 
being, in a similar manner, held under obligation of personal 
conformity of affections, thoughts, words and actions, to the holy 
requirements of God's law. The apostasy of this nature was the 
immediate efficient cause in Adam of the act of disobedience, the 
plucking of the forbidden fruit. Thus there attached to him 
the double crime of apostasy of his nature and of personal dis- 
obedience. The guilt thus incurred, attached, not only to 
Adam's person, but to the nature which > in his person, caused 
the act of transgression. Thus, as the nature flows to all the 
posterity of Adam, it comes bearing the burden of that initial 



sect, v.] The Nature of Sin. 257 

crime, and characterized by the depravity which was embraced 
therein. In both respects the nature is at variance with the 
law. In both respects it is guilty of sin, — the sin of nature. 
In addition to this, Adam's posterity find the depravity thus 
embraced and indwelling, an unfailing and active cause of other 
sins. The apostate nature works iniquity wherever it is found. 
Thus originate the personal sins which fill the world. Such is 
the ground upon which the apostasy of man's nature from holi- 
ness, and its embrace of depravity, is called sin, and, as such, 
charged upon the race of man. The propriety of so charging 
it would seem to be unquestionable. It is certain, that nothing 
may be predicated of the person which does not grow out of the 
nature. And, if this must be admitted, there appears to be no 
ground on which it can be claimed that the nature, because 
existing in another person, is entitled to exemption from its 
essential guilt. The opposite view assumes the absurdity, that 
there may be, and is, that in the person which has a subsistence 
and moral agency of its own; a competence to responsibility, and 
capacity to appreciate and experience the power of the law's 
sanctions, distinct from, and independent of, the nature. Is 
it said- to be unjust to hold my person bound for an act 
which was committed in the person of another? The objection 
would be valid, were the person a force to control or modify 
the nature. But, since the contrary is the case, it does not 
appear reasonable that exemption should be claimed on that 
ground. In fact, the nature, which was the cause of my person, 
was there. And, as every power or principle of efficiency which 
is in the effect must have been in its cause, it follows, inevitably, 
that every thing in me, upon which resistance to the apostasy 
might be imagined, was actually there, and, so far from opposing, 
took part in the treason. We " sinned in Adam and fell with 
him in his first transgression." The accident of my personal 
existence, had it then been realized, would have added no new 
influences to those which were actually engaged, and would not 
have modified the result, nor changed the responsibility attach- 
ing to it. The objection here considered, strikes at the root of 
all responsibility, as well for personal as for native sin. If I am 

17 



258 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vii. 

not justly responsible for Adam's transgression, because only my 
nature was efficient in it, then may I, with equal propriety, 
claim exemption in respect to personal sins, since in them my 
person is the mere subject of the action, and my nature is the 
sole efficient cause. It is not, however, our purpose in this 
place to discuss the doctrine of original sin, but merely to show 
the general principles, which embrace our relation to Adam's 
apostasy, under the category of sin. 

To the still further clearing of the Scripture doctrine of sin, 
two other points are to be noticed. The first is, that the law, 
as we have formerly seen, is as old as that nature of man, which 
we have seen to be bound under a responsibility as old as the 
race. The law was written on that nature, when created in 
holiness, in the person of Adam. So that God's justice, in 
charging native depravity as sin, does not hold that to be sin 
which entered before the law. This point Paul insists upon, in 
the epistle to the Romans. Having in the second chapter de- 
scribed the Gentile world, as amenable to the law written on 
their hearts; he, in the fifth, justifies the accusation of sin, which 
he makes against the race, in Adam, upon the ground of the 
existence of that law, antedating that of Moses. Rom. v. 13, 14 : 
— "For until the law (of Moses) sin was in the world; but sin 
is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death 
reigned." The second point to be noticed is, that although sin 
has, in some measure, obscured the lines in which the law is 
inscribed on the heart, yet is the law always present, and acting 
with an energy, and appeal to the consciousness, precisely pro- 
portioned to the exigency of the case. In the first dawn of 
infant existence, it is present; and, as sin is there, only in the 
form of latent corruption, so is the law, in the form of an im- 
manent power of conscience, God's witness within, ready to for- 
bid and condemn sin. So, as the growing capacities gradually 
develop an active corruption, — a living hostility to holiness and 
the Holy One, — does the law within pari passu unfold a still 
more and more active testimony on their behalf; and, probably, 
nothing contributes, so constantly and so powerfully, to deve- 
lop corruption in the yet unconscious infant heart, as the pre- 



sect, vi.] The Nature of Sin. 259 

sence of this indwelling law, thus continually testifying on behalf 
of that to which the nature is averse; and from which, in its 
apostasy, the whole being instinctively revolts. Without the 
presence of the law, sin is dead. But the coming of the com- 
mandment continually revives it ; and, by occasion of that com- 
mandment, it deceives and slays the soul. 

The results to which we come, in the present inquiry, may be 
summed in the following propositions. 1. As to its formal as- 
l 7. Nature pect, sin is any want of conformity unto, or trans- 
and evil of sin. gression of, the law of God. It is avop.ia } unlawful- 
ness. 2. As to its essential nature, it is moral unlikeness to 
God; — or, rather, the reverse of his likeness. 3. Its origin is, 
in every instance, traceable to the criminal apostasy of a nature, 
made in God's image, and clothed with freedom to continue in 
that likeness, or depart from it. 4. As to its habitual form, it 
is a depraved principle, in the nature; hostile to all good, and 
prone to all evil ; enmity to God and his law ; and delighting in 
whatever is hateful to him. 5. In action, it is transgression, 
actively assailing, alike, the authority of God, and the rights 
of fellow-creatures. 

The following pages will exhibit some of the aspects which, 
in the history of man, sin has assumed. In them, we shall see 
abundant confirmation of the positions here taken. 

The evil of sin is infinite. It is, in and of itself, thus evil, 
as being the contradictory of the infinite excellence which is 
essential in God. This essential evil is aggravated by the rela- 
tion which sin sustains, as transgression of the law. Thus, it 
robs God, by a perversion of the creature which he made, from 
the office to which he assigned it; to wit, the exhibition, in the 
Creator's presence, of an image of his own essential holiness; 
and the reflection of that image upon the other creatures. It is 
atrocious ingratitude ; as it tramples upon the honour which the 
Creator has conferred, in the destination of the creature to such 
an office, and despises the happiness which he has bestowed; 
both of which are the highest to which creature could aspire, or 
of which finite being could conceive. It is a disparagement of 
the beauty and glory of the divine character; the likeness of 



260 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. vii. 

which is by it rejected, and the opposite embraced. In one 
word, sin is atheism. It denies God's infinite excellence, by- 
refusing conformity to it, and embracing that infinite evil which 
he hates ; disowns his sovereignty, by apostasy from the attitude 
and office which he has assigned; and repudiates his proprietary 
right in the creation, by an appropriation of self and the crea- 
tures in a way contrary to his will and injurious to his honour. 
It assails his Godhead, and his very being, by assuming an atti- 
tude as though he were not rightful Lord, nor the creation his 
rightful dominion ; by refusing him that love and worship which 
as God is his due, and withholding that service and obedience 
which as Creator is his right; by seizing upon such part of the 
creation as comes within reach, and appropriating it, to the ex- 
clusion of Him who made it, and in whom it exists ; and by at- 
tempting to sustain an independent existence, and expecting 
happiness despite his frown. Such is the essential nature of sin, 
as it subsists in the nature of the soul, and in the attitude of 
the powers ; and such is it seen by the intelligent creatures ; as, 
seated at the fountain of activity, in the springs of the being, it 
stamps its atrocious impress upon the actions which flow from 
the causative energies of the moral nature. Thus, to witnessing 
intelligences, and to man's own conscience, is detected and con- 
demned the apostasy within, which has been already seen and 
abhorred by the Searcher of hearts, and condemned by the in- 
fallible doom of his holy law with an infinite curse ; — condemned 
and accursed, while yet hidden in the recesses of the nature^ 
undeveloped in actings of sin, and undiscovered by blind crea- 
ture vision. 



When the preceding paragraph was written, we supposed that 
no one, professing to look to a divine Eedeemer, or to adore a 
§ 8. Barnes' God of infinite holiness, would question the infinite 
doctrine. eY H f sin. But, in a recent publication, devoted 

to a discussion of the doctrine of the atonement, the author says, 
"We cannot argue that because sin is an infinite evil, there- 
fore an infinite atonement was necessary, or that it was neces- 
sary that he who should make the atonement should be infinite 



sect, vii.] The Nature of Sin. 261 

in his nature." He then asks, in a marginal note, "In what 
sense is it true that sin is infinite f How is it ascertained that 
it is infinite ? In what part of the Scriptures is it asserted or 
intimated that the necessity of an atonement rests on the fact 
that sin is an infinite evil? Where is it affirmed that sin has in 
any sense a character of infinity?"* It would have been as 
reasonable and as conclusive, had Mr. B. asked, where it is 
affirmed that God is infinitely holy. Sin not an infinite evil ! 
It is not, then, an infinitely evil thing, for a creature of God to 
act in contempt of the expostulation of his infinitely good and 
holy Maker, entreating him, "Oh, do not this abominable thing 
that I hate!" — Jer. xliv. 4. Then are not God's perfections 
of boundless excellence, nor the contempt and rejection of them 
an act infinitely atrocious and vile. God's love is not an infi- 
nitely precious thing, its loss a measureless evil, nor his hatred 
and wrath an infinite calamity. That is not an infinite evil, 
which forfeits eternal life ; nor that which at the infallible tri- 
bunal of God's justice will "be punished with everlasting de- 
struction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of 
his power;" — 2 Thess. i. 9; — for which God has treasured up 
"indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish;" — for which 
"the smoke of torment will ascend up for ever and ever." Sin 
not an infinite evil ! Then may Mr. Barnes provide a sounding- 
line which will fathom the bottomless pit, — a flood which will 
quench the unquenchable fire, — a weapon to slay the undying 
worm. Then are the pains of hell not intolerable; and the woe 
of perdition not infinitely fearful ! Oh ! is it possible that any 
child of clay can look upon the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and question the infinite evil of sin? Mr. Barnes' system is, 
indeed, proof against this appeal. His doctrine is, that every 
thing essential in Christ's atoning sacrifice, was the humiliation 
and corporeal suffering involved in a violent death. After show- 
ing, variously, that it is supposed by many, and was so by the 
Hebrews, that the life is in the blood, he says, " The plain doctrine 
of the New Testament, therefore is, that the blood of Christ — 

* Barnes on the Atonement, p. 161. 



262 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vii. 

that is, that the giving of his life — was the means of making 
the atonement, or securing reconciliation between man and his 
Maker. In other words, his life was regarded as a sacrifice in 
the place of sinners, by means of which the penalty of the law, 
which man had incurred, might be averted from him. The 
voluntary death of the Redeemer, in the place of man, had such 
an efficacy, that man, on account of that, might be saved from 
the punishment which he had deserved, and treated as if he had 
not sinned. This is the doctrine of the atonement."* Even such 
merits as were thus acquired by the Mediator, are adequate, in 
Mr. Barnes' estimation, to the salvation of all the redeemed, besides 
admitting a large allowance for " waste;" since he supposes that 
many will perish for whom Christ died. That such a waste 
should take place, he thinks the analogies of nature would lead 
us to expect !f 



* Barnes on the Atonement, p. 302. f Ibid. p. 



327. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DEATH THE PENALTY OF THE LAW. 

The laws designed for the government of the lower creation, 
being enstamped on the very substance of the material elements, 
1 1. Sanctions and incorporated in the organic structure of the 
necessary. creatures, possessed a self-enforcing efficiency, — the 
communicated power of the Creator himself; so that they needed 
no other sanction to maintain their authority. But man was 
endowed with an intellect to apprehend the nature of the relation 
between him and his Creator, and to perceive the propriety and 
justice of the authority which Cod asserted over him; and a 
liberty of will, qualifying him for rendering a spontaneous and 
reasonable service, infinitely more honourable to man, and more 
suited to glorify God, than the necessary subordination of the 
lower creation. A law which addresses itself to such intelligence 
and freedom, requires sanctions which may appeal to the same 
attributes. Those which God affixed to his law, as revealed to 
Adam, were two: — eternal life, the reward of obedience; and 
death, the punishment of transgression. The promise of eternal 
life, which accompanied the law to Adam, constituted the prin- 
cipal element in a gracious covenant, of which we shall speak 
hereafter. Our present business is with the penalty. 

"We have already seen, that the design of the law is the reve- 
lation of the nature of God; and its authority founded in the 
proprietary relation subsisting between him and his creatures ; 
and that the practical form which the precept assumes, depends 
on the nature and condition of the creature, as angelic or human, 
innocent, fallen, reprobate, or redeemed. Analogous to this is 
the constitution of the penalty. A creature is admitted to com- 
munion with God, and dignified by the reception of a law ad- 

263 



264 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. viii. 

dressed to his understanding, and committed to the charge of his 
unbiassed will; — a law, in which he learns the great and en- 
nobling end of his being; the accomplishment of which is thus 
intrusted to his own free co-operation with God. If such a trust 
be betrayed by disobedience, the transgressor must, thereby, of 
necessity, come under his Creator's frown, and experience his 
curse. His crime has in it, not only the elements of all moral 
evil, as it alienates his Creator's property, repudiates the like- 
ness of his glorious holiness, and contemns his condescension and 
favour; but it is also an assault upon the sovereignty of the 
Lawgiver, as set forth in the law. Hence, not only may the 
transgressor expect to be left to the evils which naturally grow 
out of the sin which he has embraced; but, to realize the power 
of his offended Sovereign, arrayed against him, in the infliction 
of a punishment adequate to his crime. Farther, the form in 
which the evil thus incurred shall be inflicted, must be deter- 
mined, in many respects, by the nature of the victim. It will 
assume one aspect in the case of fallen angels ; another, in many 
of its features, in fallen men; and still another when the Prince 
of Life becomes the sufferer. 

The infliction thus imposed upon the transgressor constitutes 
the penalty of the law. By this phrase, is designated that evil, 
g 2. Nature of which is defined in the statute, and inflicted by the 
a penalty. officers of the law, for the vindication of its sove- 

reignty against transgressors. Three things are, therefore, 
involved in the word, penalty, and exhaustive of its meaning. 
Its design is, to vindicate the sovereignty; — its matter, is de- 
fined in the law; — and its infliction on the transgressor, is made 
by the officers of the law, in accordance with its mandate. 

An entirely different view, on this subject, is taken by the 
New Haven school of divines. Says Mr. Barnes, "The penalty 
of the law is what is threatened or inflicted by the lawgiver, as 
an expression of his sense of the value of the law, and of the 
evil of violating it. The penalty may be measured or deter- 
mined (a) by an actual statement, on his part, of what he will 
inflict, or, what the violation of the law deserves ; or (b) by what 
actually comes upon the offender, under his administration, as 



sect, i.] Death the Penalty of the Laic. 265 

the consequence of violating the law. In other words, we may 
learn what is the penalty of the law, from revelation, or from 
observation of the actual course of events, or from both com- 
bined. The actual threatening may or may not cover the whole 
ground; and what the penalty is, may be learned partly from 
the statement, and partly from observation. As a matter of 
fact, we ascertain, in a great measure, what the penalty of vio- 
lating the divine law is, from observation. Thus, we learn what 
is the penalty of intemperance, partly from the previous state- 
ment of what will be the consequences, and partly from an 
actual observation of the evils which come upon the drunkard. 
To know what the real penalty is, we must look at all those con- 
sequences on the body and the soul; on the property and the 
peace of the drunkard, on his family and his reputation; on the 
effects in delirium tremens; in his wretched death, in his dis- 
honoured memory, and in the woes endured forever. All these, 
and not a part of them, are designed to express the Lawgiver's 
sense of the value of the law, and the evil of its violation. To 
endure, therefore, the penalty of the law in the case of intem- 
perance is to bear all the evils which it actually brings on the 
offender in this world and in the world to come. If a substitute, 
therefore, should endure the literal penalty of the law, all must 
be endured which would actually come upon the offender him- 
self."* 

This whole view is both superficial and unsound; involving 
erroneous conceptions in respect to the nature of the evil of sin, 
as well as concerning the office of the penalty. It is in perfect 
keeping with that whole system, according to which, sin consists 
in the outward violation of statute law. Were this true, there 
would be no room to allow any evils resulting from sin, except 
such as the law inflicts. It would seem as though a moment's 
reflection upon the case cited by our author, must have led to a 
discovery of the fallacy of the whole theory. Why is drunken- 
ness a crime, condemned and punished by the law of God ? The 
only reason that can be given is, that the natural effects result- 

* Barnes on the Atonement, p. 233. 



266 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. viii. 

ing from intemperance are such as are incompatible with the 
duties which the inebriate owes, to himself, his family and God. 
It is because the free use of alcohol is injurious to the body and 
mind, and involves many evils, as its natural consequences, that 
(rod has forbidden it, and sealed the prohibition with a penal curse. 
The argument of Mr. Barnes confounds this penalty, which God 
inflicts, with those evils which are caused immediately by the 
habit itself, and to protect men from which, was the very design 
of the law and its penalty. As we have already seen, there are 
two evils in sin, which are not to be confounded together. First, 
it is contrary to the perfect nature of God. And, as God's per- 
fection is the cause of his own blessedness ; and his likeness is 
an immediate honour and cause of happiness, to those who imi- 
tate his excellence, — so is sin, in and of itself, an evil and dis- 
honour, and the cause of multiplied evils, in him who indulges 
it. Thus, love is the immediate cause of happiness, to its pos- 
sessor, and to those with whom he is brought in contact; whilst 
hatred and malevolence, of themselves, banish joy from the 
bosom where they dwell, and mar the enjoyments of all around. 
Not only so, but God, as Creator, has vindicated his own excel- 
lency, by so ordering it, in his creation, that the imitation of his 
perfections is, in many ways, the immediate cause of increasing 
good and happiness to the creatures; whilst indulgence in sin 
induces effects of an opposite character. 

The second evil of sin has respect to the sovereignty of God. 
Because of its essential evil, its incongruity to his own most 
holy nature, God has seen good, as sovereign, to prohibit sin. 
And, having vindicated his essential excellence, by the natural 
relations, which, as we have just seen, he has established be- 
tween holiness and happiness, sin and misery, he asserts and 
vindicates his sovereignty, by annexing the penalty of the law, 
which his sovereign hand judicially enforces against those who 
transgress the precept; as well as the rewards, which we shall 
hereafter see to have been pledged to obedience. 

Thus, have the holiness and the sovereignty of God, each, 
their own appropriate relation to sin ; and vindication, against 
the sinner and in behalf of the holy. And, as a broad line of 



sect, ii.] Death the Penalty of the Law. 267 

demarcation is traceable, between, the essential evil of sin, — 
which is moral unlikeness to God, — and its formal aspect, — which 
is, violation of the law, : — so, there is a line, equally broad, between 
those provisions, which are developed through the operation of 
the natural laws of cause and effect, under the ordering of the God 
of providence, and those judicial provisions, which arise out of 
the law, and are dispensed by the immediate hand of the eternal 
King. The former class attests the infinite excellence of God, 
the holy ; the other proclaims the righteous and eternal sove- 
reignty of the Lawgiver and Judge. The one arises out of the 
very nature of holiness, as good, and, of sin, as evil; and can 
have no other immediate cause. The other proceeds from the 
immediate hand of God, in the assertion of his authority and 
exercise of his power. As relating to sin, the one is the evil 
proper to sin in itself, and consequent upon it as a natural cause ; 
the other is the penalty, defined in the law and inflicted by God. 
These distinctions, thus so broadly marked and important, are, 
by Mr. Barnes, entirely overlooked and ignored, in the vain 
attempt to escape from the scriptural doctrine respecting the 
penalty of the law, as inflicted on the Son of God, our vicarious 
Surety at the bar of divine justice. 

The phrase, " penalty of sin," is sometimes used in a general 
sense, to express all the evils, of whatever kind, which follow 
sin, whether consequential or punitive, — whether vindicatory of 
the holiness, or of the sovereignty, of God. But the phrase, 
"penalty of the law," is never properly used to designate any 
evil which the law does not prescribe, which the judge does 
not find written in the statute-book, and which the officers of 
the law do not inflict by virtue of its mandate; — any thing, in 
short, which is not expressly designed and effectual to vindicate 
the authority of the law, as law; and of God, as sovereign and 
lawgiver. That authority can be vindicated against the disobe- 
dient, in but one conceivable way ; — that is, by the infliction of 
an evil, proportioned to the transgression; and which, being 
prescribed in the law, is thus unequivocally attested to flow from 
its curse. The unimpaired sovereignty of the law is thus sig- 
nalized; inasmuch as he, by whose disobedience it has been dis- 



268 The EloJiim Revealed. [chap, viil 

honoured, is the involuntary evidence of its supremacy; by 
virtue of the exercise upon him, subjugated though hostile, of 
its absolute power; and his experience of the terrors and fear- 
fulness of that intolerable and inevitable curse, the forewarnings 
of which he has contemned. 

Death, was the name used to designate the penalty, at the 
first giving of the law to our first parents. "In the day that 
1 3. Death not thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." — Gen. ii. 
a metaphor. \*j m Such was the language in which it was stated 
to them in the garden. The same word is habitually used in 
the Scriptures as expressive of the judicial infliction incurred by 
sin. The proper and primary meaning of the word, as addressed 
to Adam, and descriptive of the penalty of the law, was, — not 
specifically bodily decease, spiritual ruin, nor the torments of 
hell, but — in one word — the wrath and curse of God. This is 
the definition, implied in all the statements of the Westminster 
standards. They always distinguish between the curse itself, 
and the sorrows, temporal and eternal, which flow from it; and 
carefully mark their consequential relation to each other. Thus, 
in the Confession of Faith, ch. vi. § 6: — "Every sin, both ori- 
ginal and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of 
God, and contrary thereunto, doth, in its own nature, bring 
guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath 
of God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, 
with all miseries, spiritual, temporal and eternal." Shorter 
Catechism, Qu. 84 : — " Every sin deserveth God's wrath and 
curse, both in this life and that which is to come." Qu. 19 : — 
"All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under 
his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this 
life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever." See also 
Larger Catechism, questions 27-29, 152, &c. 

That the word, death, is not used in the law as a metaphor, 
but as signifying, in a literal sense, the curse of God, is, we 
think, demonstrable. The metaphor is a figure of speech, in 
which the thing named only bears a relation of analogy, real or 
fancied, to that which is meant. Thus, when we speak of a 
man of towering or giant intellect, although we appeal to stand- 



sect, ii.] Death the Penalty of the Laic. 269 

ards of physical dimensions, the design is, to characterize quali- 
ties vhich. are unmeasurable by any such rule; the sense of the 
expression being traceable only through a distant analogy. The 
use of this figure implies greater familiarity and clearness of 
apprehension, in regard to the class of things whence the figures 
are selected, than to that to which they are applied for illustra- 
tion. It employs things well known, to illustrate such as are 
less known. In this view, it is remarkable, to our present pur- 
pose, that in metaphors the type is always taken from the natu- 
ral world, — from material things and their properties, to illustrate 
truths of the moral world. 

The use of this figure, therefore, implies a darkened state of 
the understanding and the soul; a state in which a veil is inter- 
posed, so that man is not able to apprehend immediately, and 
correspond directly with, the spiritual world; but only mediately, 
through the help of visible comparisons, and material analogies. 
This state of the understanding is not predicable of our first 
parents, when the law was given to them in innocency at their 
creation ; but has resulted from their subsequent apostasy and 
fall. Of it Paul says, that, by consequence of sin, men " became 
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." 
— Rom. i. 21. They "walk in the vanity of their mind, having 
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of 
God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the 
blindness of their heart." — Eph. iv. 17, 18. So, "the natural 
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are 
foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they 
are spiritually discerned." — 1 Cor. ii. 14. Whilst, thus, the 
spiritual nature, including the intellectual powers, has been 
obscured and darkened, sense has assumed the pre-eminence. 
Hence, the introduction of the metaphor into human speech, — 
a badge of the fall, at the same time that it constitutes a help 
to our darkness, and a means of communication w T ith the world 
of light whence we are exiled. That such a figure was not em- 
ployed, in communicating the law T to Adam, will appear from 
several considerations. 

1. We have already seen that the law was originally inscribed 



270 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. viii. 

on the heart of Adam in his creation. That the penalty was 
there included, is evident not only from the fact of its being an 
essential element in the law, but from its continuance to the 
present hour, deeply engraven on every human heart in inse- 
parable connection with that law. In this case there is no room 
for the interposition of figurative language; as, in fact, the in- 
strumentality of speech was not employed at all; but the crea- 
tive finger inscribed the whole upon the tablet of man's soul. 
The tree of knowledge was a sacramental seal of the covenant 
of works ; of which we shall hereafter speak. It constituted a 
public and unambiguous test of man's obedience to the require- 
ments of the law already given. The decree, therefore, which 
was made to him, in regard to it, was merely a repetition of 
obligations and a sanction, which were already known to Adam ; 
for the purpose of defining their relation to the particular com- 
mand in regard to that tree. When, therefore, the Creator saw 
fit to collect and concentrate the whole authority of his law, and 
all the terrors of its penal sanction, in the one precept, — " Of 
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat 
of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
die;" — it is unreasonable to imagine him to have expressed the 
wrathful curse, which Adam by nature knew to attach to trans- 
gression, by a word, the proper meaning of which was related 
to the sense intended, only by obscure and distant analogies. If 
ever, then was the time, when direct, didactic and unambiguous 
language was needed, — language which should strike directly 
home to the cords of consciousness in Adam's already instructed 
heart. 

Adam needed no metaphor, to explain to him the meaning of 
the wrath of God. He knew it as the opposite of the communion 
and happiness which he enjoyed. The figure, too, which is 
thought to be used, even if he had been at all able to understand 
it, would in its own nature have been exceedingly vague and 
misleading. Instead of its suggesting spontaneously, from the 
analogies of physical death, the meaning of the threatening, it 
is difficult, even with the light thrown upon the subject by the 
sad experience of our race, to persuade ourselves that any ana- 



sect, in.] Death the Penalty of the Latv. 271 

logy at all exists ; and without such experience, and the light of 
the Scriptures revealing the eternal sufferings of the wicked, 
analogy from bodily death would rather have induced the idea 
of annihilation as the penalty of sin. 

2. But another fatal objection to the idea that the language 
is figurative, occurs in the fact, that of natural death, from 
which the figure is supposed to be taken, Adam had as yet no 
knowledge. It was creation's dawn; a scene of innocent and 
happy existence. No wrathful cloud had frowned, or thunder 
burst in the sky. No shriek of anguish had rent the air. No 
dying groan had yet been breathed, nor lifeless corpse defiled 
the virgin soil of creation. Upon the supposition, therefore, 
that the word, death, is figuratively used, we are brought to the 
absurd conclusion, that God, in addressing the pure and as yet 
untarnished intellect of Adam, had recourse to a phenomenon, 
of which he had no experience, and which was therefore to him 
as yet without a name, to illustrate one of the simplest concep- 
tions which could be brought before his mind, — the reverse of 
God's favour, which he so richly enjoyed, — the descent of his 
curse. 

3. The natural and beautiful solution which our interpretation 
gives, to the various and apparently incompatible uses of the 
word, death, confirms its correctness. The law to which it is 
annexed is transgressed by our first parents. The transgression 
brings in the penalty ; and the sentence is passed by God, in the 
form of a curse upon the woman, in her relation to the husband 
whom she had ensnared, and the children whom she had brought 
into ruin; in a curse upon the earth for man's sake, and upon 
him, in the toil of his hands and the sorrow of his heart, until he 
return to the ground out of which he was taken ; and upon both, 
in separation from the tree of life, and exclusion from the garden, 
and the presence of God. How must the sorrowing and penitent 
pair have marked, in the gradual development of their own 
history, the unfolding of the dreadful comprehensiveness of that 
word which had forewarned them of the frown of their Maker 
against sin, until at length affliction came upon them in a form 



272 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. viii. 

of horror in which bodily dissolution became to their minds the 
type and pledge of God's consummated curse. 

A glance at a part of their earlier history will shed light upon 
this subject. After their expulsion from the garden, however 
g 4. Abel's the loving hand of a compassionate and covenant 
death. Q-od may have smoothed their path, yet was it doubt- 

less one of continual trouble. Toil and sorrow were the elements 
of the curse. And against them it was uttered ; upon them enforced. 
When, at eventide, toil-worn and hungry, they returned from 
the labours of the day, or tossed their weary and aching limbs 
by night upon an unquiet couch, and remembered the innocence 
and happiness of " Eden, blissful seat," and the transgression 
and curse which robbed them of it all ; — when at times sickness 
came, and Eve bathed the temples of her husband, burning with 
fever, and throbbing with pain ; — when, in seasons of spiritual 
desertion and darkness, the flaming sword which guarded Eden, 
seemed to them to shine with an angry gleam, their supplications 
failed of a gracious recognition, and they came, unblessed, in 
darkness and sorrow, from the presence of Him with whom they 
were once privileged to hold free and unrestrained intercourse, 
as with a beloved and intimate friend; they recognised all as 
bitter streams flowing from that fountain, death, which the law 
had denounced against transgression. Yet were these but light 
and transient sorrows, compared with the poignant grief which 
in process of time they were called to realize. 

Nearly a hundred and thirty years had hurried by since earth 
first smiled in verdure, in the light of the new-born sun. Per- 
haps it was a Sabbath's eve. That had been a day to be remem- 
bered by our first parents. According to their custom, they had 
gathered their family around the altar of God, each bringing his 
offering to be presented there. Cain, their stern first-born, 
brought of the fruits of the earth, a thank-offering to the God 
of Providence; but with no penitent recognition of the sin- 
atoning Lamb. To his offering God had no respect. But the 
distressful feelings thus induced in Adam and Eve were soon for- 
gotten in the tender emotions with which they beheld the fire of 
God consume the lamb which Abel's faith presented. They 



sect, in.] Death the Penalty of the Law. 273 

saw not the scowl which settled on the brow of their eldest son, 
as he contrasted his own rejected offering with the accepted 
pledge of his brother's piety. And now, as the shades of evening 
gather, Adam and Eve sit musing in their tranquil home on the 
transactions of the day. Perhaps they recur to the sad mistake 
of Eve, who, upon the birth of her first-born, thought that already 
the Seed of promise had come; and, exclaimed, HfilWiK #\x rrvjj^ 
" I have obtained the man Jehovah." — Gen. iv. 1. But, as the 
stillness of night comes on, why is not Abel at home ? At even- 
tide he went forth to meditate in the field. But the wonted 
time of his return is past, and yet he comes not. Every rustling 
leaf stirs the affectionate heart of Eve, as she listens for the foot- 
step of her gentle and pious son. Cain too is absent; but such 
is often his mood, to wander away, withdrawn from the commu- 
nion of the pious house. At length a footfall is heard. It 
is the hurried step of Cain. With anxious look, Eve asks, 
"Cain, where is thy brother?" Cain answers evasively, and 
hastens to seek repose in sleep. But no sleep that night closed 
the murderer's eyes. No slumber stilled the throbbings of his 
conscience-smitten heart. At midnight he hears a voir^ , but 
not the gentle tones of his mother. The stern demand is made, 
— " Cain, where is thy brother?" Cain knows the voice of God. 
But whilst his hair stands up, his remorseless spirit replies, in 
terms of insolent defiance, " I know not. Am I my brother's 
keeper?" Then hears he the dread assurance, — " The voice 
of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the ground ; and now 
art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth 
to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand." At length the 
desired morning dawns. Adam and Eve forsake their couch. 
Forebodings of coming sorrow have banished sleep. They go 
forth to seek their son ; and soon, too soon, they find the bloody 
corpse ! Conceive the feelings of the mother, as she beholds, in 
this form of horror, the first victim of the curse of her sin, — the 
first trophy of death ! With all a mother's undespairing love, 
she tries every means to resuscitate the lifeless clay ; until even 
she can hope no more. Then breaks forth all the agony of a 
mother's grief, as she throws herself upon the loved, the cold and 

18 



274 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. viii. 

mangled form. " Abel ! my child ! my child! It was I that 
plucked the forbidden fruit ! It was I that purchased the curse ! 
Would to God I that day had perished! That thus thou 
shouldst be the victim ! My innocent son ! Abel ! Abel ! my 
son! God of justice! This, this is the death indeed! This 
is thy uttermost curse !" 

Thus readily does the death of the body receive the name of 
the curse whence it flows, and of which it is the element most 
signally impressive to the senses, — which, on the one hand con- 
summates and swallows up in itself all earthly sorrows ; and on 
the other, launches the unredeemed spirit on the unutterable 
sorrows of the second death. As the phenomena of bodily death 
continually force themselves upon our attention, whilst our 
carnal apprehensions fail to heed the multiplied indications of a 
universal curse resting upon us, this, the figurative and secondary 
sense of the word, has usurped the primary place ; and as men 
have " not liked to retain God in their knowledge," especially in 
respect to his attributes of holiness and retributive justice, they 
have gradually lost sight of the radical idea, which originally 
attached to the word, even in this its secondary use ; until at 
length it has come to be understood as the name of a mere 
phenomenon of nature. 

That bodily dissolution was not the immediate idea expressed 
by the word, death, in the penalty of the law, is still further 
I 5. Not evident from several considerations. 
physical 1. If that was the meaning, it behooved that our 

death. sinning parents had actually returned to dust on 

the day of the transgression. The law was, " In the day that 
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Here is the penalty 
named, that is, death ; the time emphatically specified, u the day 
that thou eatest thereof;" and the certainty of the infliction 
marked by the form of the expression, which is indicated in our 
translation by the phrase, " thou shalt surely die," corresponding 
with the still greater force of the original, in which it is an in- 
tensitive repetition: — " dying thou shalt die." Here is something 
which the God of truth declares he will inflict on the day of 
transgression. But it was not death of the body ; for that did 



sect, iv.] Death the Penalty of the Laio. 275 

not occur. It is in vain to say that the transgressors then 
became legally dead; or, that death then began. These ex- 
pressions need only to be stripped of their figurative forms, to 
appear incapable of vindication. To say that a man is legally 
dead, is, in other words, to say that sentence of death is by the 
law passed upon him. True: — But the law also specifies the 
time : — " In the day that thou eatest." If legal death satisfies 
this provision of the law, it must also meet that which defines 
the penalty ; for it is that penalty which is to be inflicted on the 
day of transgression. And if this be admitted, it follows, that 
the law, satisfied with this " legal death," can never demand any 
other ! In other words, upon this view, the requirement of the 
law may be met by the solemn passing of a sentence, which shall 
never be inflicted, — by a farce to satisfy the demands of decency ! 
So, again, the phrase, " death then began," means, that it then 
became certain, that death would ultimately take place; or, at 
most, that the seeds of disease then entered the body. But 
prospective death is not death. The seeds of sickness, or even 
disease realized, is not death, or dissolution of the body. And if 
that be what is meant by the sentence of the law, these will not 
satisfy the requirements of the case. In short, bodily death did 
not occur, because that was not the threatening; couched in the 
word. But the curse which it designed to express did fall at 
once ; and it is not unworthy of observation, that in the sentence, 
as passed after the fall, the word, death, is not employed to sig- 
nify that " return to dust," which was enumerated among the 
miseries which resulted from the penalty of the law, then in- 
flicted by the justice of God. 

2. Christ was made under the law, " that through death he 
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the 
devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all 
their lifetime subject to bondage." — Heb. ii. 14, 15. He "hath 
abolished death," — 2 Tim. i. 10; and assures the bereaved 
Martha, " He that belie veth in me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall 
never die." — John xi. 25, 26. Yet of all who then heard and 
believed, and of all the after generations who have trusted in 



276 The Elolum Revealed. [chap. viii. 

these exceeding great and precious promises, not one lias avoided 
return to the dust. Evidently, Christ did not speak of bodily 
dissolution, but of something different, constituting the penalty 
of the law for sin, which he satisfied. Equally conclusive is his 
language in John v. 24 : — " He that heareth my word, and 
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not 
come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." 
" From death unto life," — from under the wrath of God to the 
enjoyment of his smile. 

As if to mark with emphasis the fact that the word, death, 
properly expresses wrath, the Scriptures repudiate its use, in the 
a 6 Death is case °^ ^he P eo pl e °f God. " The maid is not dead, 
God's inflicted but sleepeth," said Jesus of the ruler's daughter, 
curse. — Matt. ix. 24; and again, " Our friend Lazarus 

sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." — John 
xi. 11. So, Stephen "fell asleep;" and, not to multiply citations, 
observe the contrast between the accursed death which Christ en- 
dured for sin, and the blessed departure of his people, as marked 
in this language of Paul : — " For if we believe that Jesus died 
and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God 
bring with him." — 1 Thess. iv. 14. And again, " God hath not 
appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, 
we should live together with him." — 1 Thess. v. 9, 10. 

A careful inspection of the Scriptures will show that the word, 
death, is there familiarly used in the sense which we attribute 
to it, as the primary and proper one. Thus, in reference to the 
plague of locusts, Pharaoh says to Moses, " Forgive, I pray thee, 
my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that he 
may take away from me this death only." — Ex. x. 17. The 
prophet Elisha, in removing the curse which had been affixed to 
Jericho, — in regard to which see Joshua vi. 17, 18, 26, and 1 
Kings xvi. 34, — cast salt into the spring, saying, " Thus saith 
the Lord : I have healed these waters ; there shall not be thence 
any more death or barren land." — 2 Kings ii. 21. Says Hosea, 
" When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; 
but when he offended in Baal, he died. And now they sin more 



sect, v.] Death the Penalty of the Law. 277 

and more." — Hos. xiii. 1, 2. To the same effect is the language 
of Paul: — "To be carnally minded is death; ... for the carnal 
mind is enmity against God. . . . So, then, they that are in the 
flesh cannot please God." — Kom. viii. 6-8. 

But it is doing injustice to the evidence, to attempt a selection 
of particular passages. They cannot convey the force of the 
argument which exists in the whole style of the Scriptures, 
as regards this word, and the interchange of it with others, 
about the meaning of which there can be no question. 
The law announces death as the punishment of sin. The 
Judge, after sin has entered, appeals to the law, (Gen. iii. 11,) 
and passes sentence according to its demands. That sentence is 
a curse ; and in it, bodily dissolution has no more emphatic men- 
tion than the toils of labour. When afterwards God proclaimed 
the law to Israel, — the same law which had been given to Adam 
at first,* — its sanction is, " Cursed be he that confirmeth not all 
the words of this law to do them." — Deut. xxvii. 26. With this 
compare the preceding verses, and ch. xi. 26-29. To this lan- 
guage the apostle Paul appeals, in unfolding the doctrine of 
justification by the righteousness of that Seed, who was pro- 
mised to the woman, as the destroyer of "him who had the 
power of death, that is, the devil." "For," says he, "as many 
as are of the works of the law, are under the curse; for it is 
written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things 
which are written in the book of the law to do them. . . . Christ 
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse 
for us ; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a 
tree." — Gal. iii. 10, 13. To the same purpose is the statement 
of the apostle, that "the law worketh wrath," — Rom. iv. 15; 
and that "the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobe- 
dience,"— Eph. v. 6; and the designation by which transgressors 
of the law are called, "children of wrath." — Eph. ii. 3. 

In short, it can hardly be questioned by any one, that the 

* " The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the 
moral law. 

"The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments." — 
Shorter Catechism, Questions 40, 41. 



278 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. vm. 

word, death, as originally used, was designed to express the true 
and proper penal sanction of the law. No one can do otherwise 
than admit that sanction to consist essentially in the wrath and 
curse of God. And it would seem, further, impossible to doubt, 
for reasons already given, that bodily dissolution is improperly 
expressed by the use of the word, except where that phenomenon 
constitutes an element in God's dealings with his enemies. 

There are four instances, given in the Scriptures, from which 
we may learn the precise intent of the word in question : — Be- 
lievers, of whom, although their bodies return to dust, we are 
assured that they " never taste of death ;" — John viii. 52 ; — devils, 
who cannot realize bodily dissolution, yet experience all the 
horrors of the penal death; (Rev. xx. 10, 14); — Christ, who 
tasted death for every man, in body and soul, although his suf- 
ferings were comprehended within the days of his flesh; and in 
whom was no sin ; — and wicked men, in whom death reigns for- 
ever, in impurity and woe. From these cases it is apparent that 
bodily dissolution, remorse, and eternity of torment, are but 
accidental incidents to the infliction of the real death. 

Perhaps it may be thought that we have dwelt needlessly on 
this point. If we are not mistaken in its importance, what has 
been said will have been well urged, if it brings the mind of the 
reader clearly and fully to the conviction that the word, death, — 
the penalty of the law, — expressed, and was intended to express, 
the single idea of the inflicted curse of God. It did not, nor 
was it designed to, descend into any enumeration of the particu- 
lars of the misery which must be realized, in soul and body, in 
possessions and pursuits, in time and eternity, by a creature, 
upon whom rests the wrath of his omnipresent, eternal and infi- 
nite Creator. As we have already seen the law to have been 
endowed with a flexibility of adaptation to all circumstances of 
all created intelligences, so is the penalty. The one curse of 
Jehovah — death — involves men and devils in calamities, in some 
respects similar, but in many altogether unlike; dependent on 
their diversity of nature and circumstances. So, too, whilst the 
Son of God, when he bore the curse, did not realize some of the 
features of the wrath which wicked men and devils experience; 



sect, vi.] Death the Penalty of the Law. 279 

on the other hand, there were elements of bitterness in his cup, 
of which no other being can ever taste. 

Such, then, was the penal sanction which admonished Adam, 
as in original rectitude he was invested with the domain of 
earth, and the sovereignty of the creatures, under allegiance to 
God. He is ruled by a law, which, in its exceeding simplicity 
is reducible to the one word, love; and, in its amazing compass, 
adapts itself to all cases, and all time. His obedience is enforced 
by the threatening of a penalty, which, simple as the law itself, 
in the single word, death, sums its whole significance. But in 
that word, — announcing the wrath of Him in whom he lived, 
and moved, and had his being, and in whose benignant smile he 
found all his happiness, — he was forewarned of a ruin, infinite 
as the nature of God, comprehensive as the being of the victim, 
and enduring as that eternity, with the endowment of which his 
Maker had sealed his own likeness in the soul of man. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE LAW A COVENANT OF LIFE. 

"Foedtjs Dei cum suis, geminum numeratur in Scripturis; alterum, naturae, cuui 
homine adhucdum integro ; alterum, gratise, cum corrupto. Prius illud, cujus 
hie agimus negotium, designari a theologis consuevit, jam foedus legale, quod 
perfectam obedientiam legi, tarn decalogicse, cordi ejus inscriptse ; quam pe- 
culiari isti de non manducando fructu vetito, prsestandam, pro conditione ha- 
buerit consequendi vitam seternam: jam 2. fcedus operum, quod pro imperio 
prsescribat, absolutissimam legis obsequium, sub symbolo non manducandi 
fructum arboris vetitae : jam 3. foedus naturae, quod non tantum legi isti exigat 
obedientiam, quae maxima sui parte, hominis naturae erat insculpta ; sed etiam, 
quod cum universa natura humana, ex ordine generationis, etiam adhucdum 
futura, coierit." — Van Mastricht Theologia, Lib. 3, cap. xii. 8. 

Science has amused itself with the construction of a curious 
box, in which, by the skilful arrangement of small mirrors, and 
1 1. The cove- bits of various-coloured glass, beautiful figures, ar- 
nant gratuitous ra y e d i n rainbow hues, present themselves to the 
from o . e ^^ ^ n ever var y^ n g forms. In it you admire some 
striking combination ; but, as you gaze, the instrument is moved 
by some slight touch. Quick as thought, the image is gone, and 
new forms have taken its place. For days may you watch the 
fantastic shapes which in succession appear and then vanish for- 
ever away ; and yet, among them all, never again will you recog- 
nise that which first excited your admiration. It is gone. No 
eye but yours ever rested upon it; no other will ever catch the 
reflection of its form. 

So might God have made this beautiful world a kaleidoscope 
for the admiration and instruction of angelic hosts, — in which 
they should have seen ever new and varying creations springing 
into existence, and passing away, to display the power, and 
wisdom, and wonderful resources of the Creator. Of all these 

280 



sect, i.] The Law a Covenant of Life. 281 

exhibitions of grandeur, beauty and excellence, man, the loftiest 
and the best, might have been called in his turn, by omnipotence, 
from nothing; and permitted for a few brief days to delight 
himself in the fresh and gladdening scenes of the new-born 
earth; to admire and adore the goodness and wisdom which 
everywhere shone ; himself cast a brighter beam of divine glory 
over the whole; and then unconsciously vanish, to give place to 
some being endowed with still higher gifts, and more eminently 
qualified to admire and adore, as well as display and illustrate, 
the perfections of the Creator. Had such been the case, no 
right of the creature had been violated, and no attribute of the 
Creator tarnished. 

When Adam enjoyed those pleasurable sensations, which arose 
from the exercise of his bodily faculties, and the powers of his 
mind and soul, — as he went forth to receive the homage of the 
brute creation, and set upon them the seal of his sovereignty, 
in the names he imposed, — as he assumed possession of the do- 
main with which the Creator's goodness had endowed him, 
which everywhere shone resplendent with its Author's glory, — 
as he inhaled the fragrance of the new-blown flowers, and ad- 
mired the beauty of the virgin world, basking in the warm and 
genial beams of the morning sun; or caught new pleasure from 
the brightness of the twinkling train of the evening sky, and 
the grandeur of their crescent queen, — it became him to burst 
forth in high strains of adoration, due to the glorious One, the 
Maker of them all; whose breath gave him life, and inspired 
him with those exquisite emotions of happiness ; — and this, too, 
as much, even though the sun, which first shone on his birth, 
had been destined ere its decline to witness his life and being 
withdrawn, and Nothing, whence he came, receive him back to 
her bosom of silence. "Whatever he had of life or endowment 
was the gift of a Power, who might at any time, in unquestioned 
sovereignty, reclaim what he had in goodness lent; and thus far 
we have no assurance that man, with all his capacities, and all 
his gifts, will not prove fleeting as the golden drapery of the 
evening sky, which flings a passing splendour on the scenery 
of nature, then dies in the shadows of night. Had such been 



282 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ix. 

the history of man, or of successive intelligences on this earth, 
any suggestion of complaint must have been forever silenced by 
the demand, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with 
mine own?" and witnessing angels had, on each new display, 
attuned their harps to new themes, and cried, "Glorious are thy 
works, and just and holy thy ways, Lord God Almighty." 

In such proceeding, God had indeed been glorified; but 
where, then, had been the bright hopes of immortality which he 
has deigned to confer on our race? How, then, had been un- 
folded the crowning glory of God, which is now displayed in 
the economy of grace to apostate man, ransomed from hell by 
the blood of the second Adam, — "God manifest in the flesh"? 
Ye angel choir, prepare new anthems of nobler praise ; not to 
extol creating wisdom and power, but to celebrate redeeming 
love ! Ye sons of Adam, lift up your voices, and magnify the 
grace which formed the plan, and gave the Son, a ransom for 
the sins of men ! 

Of that scheme, the covenant of life with Adam was the first 
element. In it, we view a feature of God's dealings with him, 
which presents the parties in an entirely new aspect, — their 
position toward each other altogether transformed. God here 
stoops from his throne, to enter into covenant bonds with man ; 
and our first parents rise, from the attitude of mere creature 
dependence, heretofore contemplated, to the dignity of parties 
confederate with God; and acquire from him a covenant pro- 
perty in life and happiness, in the sustaining power and benefi- 
cence of their Maker. The covenant between God and man 
presents itself in two forms : — the one, native, and the other, 
positive. Here, it will first be viewed in the former aspect. 
The effect of the positive constitution of it will afterward be 
considered. As there are some who deny that any covenant 
transaction took place between God and Adam, we shall first 
inquire into the facts; and shall then be prepared to determine 
whether they come under the definition of a covenant. 

The Mosaic narrative states that the Lord God planted a 
garden, eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he 
had formed. "And cut of the ground made the Lord God 



sect, i.] The Lav: a Covenant of Life. 283 

to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for 
food ; the tree of life also, in the midst of the garden, and the 
a 2 The * ree °^ knowledge of good and evil. And a river 
promise and went out of Eden, to water the garden." "And 
its seals. j^ G Lopcj Q 0( J commanded the man, saying, Of every 

tree of the garden thou niayest freely eat ; but of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the 
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." — Gen. ii. 10, 
16, 17. Here are four things bearing directly on the matter 
before us : — The garden ; the river ; the tree of life, and privilege 
respecting it ; and the tree of knowledge, and prohibition con- 
cerning it. 

1. The garden was a type of heaven, as a world of security 
and perfect blessedness and beauty. That this is so, needs but 
little argument. It is described as planted by God himself, and 
enclosed so as to be accessible only at the gate ; it was watered 
by a river flowing through it; contained in its midst the tree 
of life; man, created outside, was brought into it; and upon his 
sin, he was excluded from it, although it was not destroyed, but 
placed under cherubic guard. By the Hebrews it was always 
regarded as a type of heaven, which they hence called paradise, 
from the Greek {jzapdov.ao^) jparadeisos, a garden. This opinion 
was recognised and sanctioned by our Saviour, when he, the 
second Adam, on the cross, expiating the sin of the first, and re- 
opening the way to a forfeited heaven, assures the thief, " To- 
day shalt thou be with me in paradise." — Luke xxiii. 43. So 
Paul says of himself, " I knew a man . . . caught up to the 
third heaven, . . . into paradise." — 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. Again, with 
still more emphatic reference to the garden of Eden, the Son 
of God writes, by John, to the church of Ephesus, " To him that 
overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in 
the midst of the paradise of God." — Eev. ii. 7. In the last 
chapter of the Eevelation we have a vision of that paradise, no 
longer a solitary garden, the abode of a single pair, but grown 
into a city, whose maker and builder is God, and filled with the 
innumerable company of the redeemed. But still the tree of 
life flourishes in the streets, in eternal verdure and fruit-fulness, 



284 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. ix. 

and the river flows through the midst in an exhaustless stream. 
Eev. xxi. and xxii. 1, 2, 3. 

2. The river which watered the garden was a symbol of the 
Holy Spirit, the alone source of strength adequate to Adam's 
duties, and of spiritual growth and fruitfulness. Hence, it is, in 
the book of the Kevelation, described as proceeding out of the 
throne of God and the Lamb. (Eev. xxii. 1.) Compare this with 
the language of Christ: — " If any man thirst, let him come unto 
me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath 
said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this 
spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should 
receive." — John vii. 37-39. See also John iv. 14. 

3. The tree of life was a type of the fruits of holiness in 
active obedience, the righteousness requisite to eternal life. As 
it stood in the garden, it constituted a sacramental attestation 
and seal to Adam's obedience, and to the covenant of life con- 
ditioned upon it. The language used in connection with the ex- 
clusion of Adam from Eden implies the tree to have been a sacra- 
ment of life. " Lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the 
tree of life, and eat, and live forever, therefore the Lord God 
sent him forth from the garden." — Gen. iii. 22, 23. To the 
same conclusion tends the language of the Son of God: — "To 
him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, 
which is in the midst of the paradise of God." — Eev. ii. 7. 
And again, " Blessed are they that do his commandments, that 
they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in 
through the gates into the city." — Eev. xxii. 14. The tree, as it 
stands in the new Jerusalem, is a type of the righteousness of 
Christ, which now takes the place of our own in our justifica- 
tion. Hence, it is said, that " its leaves are for the healing of 
the nations." — Eev. xxii. 2. . The meaning of the description 
thus given will be immediately seen by reference to the re- 
markable discourse of our Saviour, recorded in John vi. He 
says, " I am the bread of life ; he that cometh to me shall never 
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." " He 
that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of 
life." " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 



sect, ii.] The Law a Covenant of Life. 285 

his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and 
drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at 
the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is 
drink indeed."— John vi. 35, 47, 48, 53-55. 

4. The tree of knowledge was a seal to the penal sanction of 
the law. As its name indicated, it constituted a test by means 
of which it should appear whether Adam chose good or evil. 
In .regard to this tree, Adam is commanded, "Thou shalt not 
eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt 
surely die." Although express mention is here made of the 
penal sanction only, yet it involves, by necessary implication, the 
alternative promise of life, in case of obedience. The transaction 
is a signal deviation from the course of economy appropriate to 
God's purely sovereign relation to a sinless being, viewed merely 
as a subject. To that, the moral law, enforced as it is by the 
same sanction which is here announced, was altogether ade- 
quate ; and therefore, in honour of that perfection of the law, 
and of himself, its author, it would have been necessary that its 
precepts should be left the alone statutes of government, had 
God seen fit to sustain the relation of a sovereign merely. The 
superimposing, therefore, of a positive precept, in regard to a 
thing in itself indifferent, indicates the sovereign to occupy 
covenant relations to his subjects. It binds and limits the 
penalty to that particular precept ; and, by virtue of the tempo- 
rary character which attaches to a law of this nature, implies 
the speedy termination of probation ; and, — upon the supposition 
of a favourable result, — the abrogation of the penal sanction 
altogether, the abolition of the curse, and the enjoyment by the 
creature of a favour of God and happiness proportioned to the 
fearfulness of the penalty which constituted the alternative. 

5. To the matters thus enumerated must be added, the institu- 
tion of the Sabbath, which constituted not only a day of necessary 
rest and devotion, but especially a type and seal of the heavenly 
rest. That such was its character, let us hear the evidence of 
Paul: — "For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he 
said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my 
rest : although the works were finished from the foundation of 



286 The Eloliim BeveaJed. [chap. ix. 

tlie world. For lie spoke in a certain place of the seventh day, 
on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his 
works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my 
rest. . . . There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of 
God."— Heb. iv. 3-5, 9. Thus, then, did the Sabbath constitute 
to Adam a sacramental pledge of heaven, viewed as the goal of 
his earthly course, and the end of his work of probation. And 
it is not unworthy of consideration, whether the occurrence of 
the Sabbath so soon after Adam's entrance on the stage of action, 
was not designed as an intimation, that the period of probation 
would be brief, and the reward of faithfulness early attained. 

Such, then, were the principal elements of the providential 
dealing of God with Adam, as bearing upon the present point. 
Whilst, alike in the law written on his heart, and the precept 
addressed to his intellect, he reads the curse of his Maker de- 
nounced against transgression, on the other hand, he has in many 
forms the pledge of life sealed to him as the reward of obedience. 
It is engraven in indelible characters on his heart. It speaks 
in the garden enclosed; which in all its fruitfulness and beauty 
told of heaven as his ultimate home. He hears its voice in the 
murmur of the river, testifying of the Holy Spirit, his exhaust- 
less source of strength and holiness. He has it in the tree of 
life, which, as he ate, sealed to him the reward of obedience. It 
stands revealed in the tree of knowledge, which, while uttering 
and sealing the curse, implied and illumined the promise. It 
shone in the tranquil light and holy rest of the Sabbath ; fore- 
shadowing and sealing to him the end of probation, in the rest 
of heaven. And we may add, — he enjoyed it in that communion 
with God, which was granted to him; which, by unveiling to 
him the face of Him that liveth and in whom he lived, and im- 
parting the joy of his favour, implied the continuance of it to 
him in continued allegiance. That all these facts lead to the 
inevitable conclusion that a promise of life was given to Adam 
upon condition of obedience, it would seem almost impossible 
that any one should deny. 

But here comes in a question which is of no little importance. 
Did the promise originate in connection with the positive precept 



sect, ii.] The Law a Covenant of Life. 287 

respecting the tree of knowledge? Or was it contemporaneous 
g 3. Date of with and incorporated in the moral law, written on 
the promise. the heart of Adam at his creation? That the latter 
is the doctrine of the Westminster standards, will conclusively 
appear in the following paragraphs : — 

" The rule of obedience revealed to Adam in the estate of in- 
nocency, and to all mankind in him, beside a special command 
not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, was the moral law. 

"The moral law is the declaration of the will of God to man- 
kind, directing and binding every one to personal, perfect and 
perpetual conformity and obedience thereunto, in the frame and 
disposition of the whole man, soul and body, and in performance 
of all those duties of holiness and righteousness which he oweth 
to God and man ; promising life upon the fulfilling, and threaten- 
ing death upon the breach of it."* 

"God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which 
he bound him, and all his posterity, to personal, entire, exact and 
perpetual obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and 
threatened death upon the breach of it; and endued him with 
power and ability to keep it. 

"This law after his fall continued to be a perfect rule of right- 
eousness; and as such was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, 
in ten commandment s."f 

" God in six days made all things of nothing, very good in 
their own kind : in special he made all the angels holy : and he 
made our first parents, Adam and Eve, the root of mankind, 
both upright, and able to keep the law written in their heart : 
Which law they were naturally bound to obey under pain of 
death; but God was not bound to reward their service, till he 
entered into a covenant or contract with them, and their pos- 
terity in them, to give them eternal life upon condition of per- 
fect personal obedience, withal threatening death in case they 
should fail. This is the covenant of works." J 

* Larger Catechism, Questions 92, 93. 

| Westminster Confession, Chap. xix. \\ 1, 2. 

% Westminster Assembly's Brief Sum of Christian Doctrine. Head i. \ 2. 



288 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. tx. 

On these places, two or three points are to be observed. 1. In 
the quotation from the Larger Catechism, the law, under which 
our first parents were placed at their creation, is divided into 
two elements, — the "special command not to eat of the fruit of 
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," and "the moral 
law." The moral law, thus carefully distinguished from the 
positive precept, is then described in covenant terms, as "pro- 
mising life upon the fulfilling of it." 2. In the Brief Sum, the 
moral law is said to have been "written in the heart" of our 
first parents. 3. The law is there logically distinguished from 
the covenant of works, and described as in the order of nature 
antecedent to it, — which it is ; — the one being of necessary obli- 
gation, the other of gratuitous bestowment. 4. In the place 
quoted from the Confession, the law is expressly stated to have 
been given "as a covenant of works." Here, the same logical 
distinction and order of nature are observed; and, at the same 
time, the dates of the two transactions are identified. If the 
law was "given as a covenant of works," evidently Adam was 
no sooner under law than he was in covenant. 5. The provision 
respecting the tree is distinctly described as preceptive ; is never 
spoken of as covenant ; and is specially distinguished from that 
which is described as the covenant. 6. The design of the As- 
sembly is yet more clearly indicated, if possible, by their appeal 
for proof to that large class of scriptures which speak of the 
law as essentially promissory in its nature. To these we shall 
presently turn. 

The standard theologians are unanimous in concurrence with 
the Assembly. Thus, says Turrettin, "The covenant of nature 
is that which God the Creator made with innocent man as his 
creature, concerning his happiness and endowment with life 
eternal, upon condition of perfect personal obedience. It is 
called natural, not on account of a natural obligation, — which 
God cannot owe to man ; — but because it was implanted in the 
nature of man as he was at first made by God, and in his in- 
tegrity or unbroken strength."* 

* Turrettin. Theol., Locus viii. Quaest. iii. \ 5. To the same purpose, see Van 
Mastricht, at the head of this chapter. 



sect, in.] The Law a Covenant of Life. 289 

The Scriptures are full and conclusive, everywhere, to the 
effect that a promise of life was an element incorporated essen- 
tially in the moral law. Thus Paul says, " To him that worketh 
is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." — Eom. iv. 4. 
And again, " The law is not of faith, but the man that doeth 
them shall live in them." — Gal. iii. 12. The same thing is inti- 
mated in Eom. viii. 3 : — " For what the law could not do in that 
it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the 
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." 
This language intimates, that the reason why eternal life is not 
now conferred by the law, is, that man's native corruption and 
infirmity of flesh preclude perfect obedience. It would be 
wearisome to recite the many passages of the Scriptures, both in 
the Old and the !STew Testament, to the same effect. In fact, the 
language already quoted from Paul — " The man that doeth them 
shall live in them" — constitutes a formula which occurs con- 
tinually, as the expression of the essentially promissory character 
of the law, as given to man. See Lev. xviii. 5 ; Net. ix. 29 ; 
Ezek. xx. 11, 13, 21; and Pom. x. 5. When the lawyer came to 
Jesus, tempting him, and inquiring what he must do to inherit 
eternal life, the reply of our Saviour distinctly affirms the same 
thing : — " What is written in the law ? How readest thou ? 
And he, answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 
And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right : This do, and 
thou shalt live." — Luke x. 26-28. Similar was his answer to 
the young man : — " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- 
ments." — Matt. xix. 17. "We surely need not any further insist on 
the fact, that a promise thus constantly stated as an element in 
the moral law, must have been co-existent with the law itself, — 
inscribed with it on the heart of Adam in his creation. 

The fact thus ascertained, is evinced with equal clearness by 
the indelible impress of the promise, now remaining on the hearts 
of all men. Wherever is found the blood of Adam's race, there 
are exhibited the lines of the law, written on the heart itself, in 
the very terms stated by Paul :— " The man that doeth them shall 

19 



290 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ix. 

live in them." It is this law with its promise surviving the 
wreck of the fall, which induces such persistent though hopeless 
efforts on the part of men, to purchase salvation by deeds of 
merit. Indelibly as the law in its penal terrors is engraven, 
its testimony is no more clear than is that which announces a 
promise, which was once addressed to an ability equal to its de- 
mands ; but now only serves to discover to men their weakness 
and ruin, by the unavailing struggles after a legal righteousness, 
in which it engages them. To this Paul alludes in Rom. ii. 13- 
15 : — " Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the 
doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which 
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, 
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which 
shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their con- 
science also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile 
accusing or else excusing one another." 

But another fact, of great importance in itself, and conclusive 
on the present subject, is the purchase of salvation by Jesus 
Christ, under the terms of this very law, promising life to obe- 
dience.' " What the law could not do in that it was weak through 
the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, 
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." — P^om. viii. 3. " He 
was made of a woman, made under the law, that he might re- 
deem them that were under the law." — Gal. iv. 4, 5. " Whom 
God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his 
blood, to declare his righteousness, for the remission of sins that 
are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare at this 
time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of 
him which believeth in Jesus." — Rom. iii. 25, 26. This subject 
will, however, be more fully presented hereafter. 

It is, therefore, certain, that the promise of life did not origi- 
nate in the positive precept concerning the tree of knowledge, 
but in the creative inscription on the heart of Adam. And 
hence it is, that in the narrative relating to the trees of the 
garden, the promise is not specified in terms, but is there only 
presupposed and implied, as it is in all the other providential 
arrangements for Adam. 



sect, in.] The Law a Covenant of Life. 291 

The conclusion thus attained is demanded by the very office 
which is assigned to the law, and the nature of the whole 
system, of which it constituted a fundamental and pervasive 
part. The design of the system is, the revelation of the glory 
of God. The office of the law is, the announcement and illus- 
tration of the moral perfections of the Lawgiver. The sum 
of its precepts is, love. The God whom it proclaims is Love. 
The reason by which its precepts are enforced is, the love 
of God, — the beauty of that holiness, of which, love, is the 
other name. Sovereign justice vindicates itself, in the penal 
terrors, which it arrays against transgression. And can it be 
imagined that this will be the only sanction to such a law? 
Shall the gracious Lawgiver proclaim the fearfulness of his in- 
dignation, and the terrible majesty of his consuming vengeance, 
against his enemies; — and, yet, shall love have no pledge of 
grace, to his obedient people? Shall the law, which declares 
his love, convey to his creatures no experience of its embrace ? 
Certainly, no promise was due to the creatures, as of right. 
But a law, however holy just and good in its provisions, the 
only sanctions of which had been terrors, would have been 
wanting in an essential element, to constitute it a true and fitting 
revelation of the character of Him who has become the God of 
our salvation. If goodness is seen anywhere, then must it, with 
especial radiance, shine in that eternal law, upon the deep and 
abiding foundations of which were laid the provisions of that 
primeval covenant, wherein, on man's behalf, Righteousness and 
Peace kissed each other in the midst of the eternal throne. If 
God delights in his righteousness and justice, and proclaims them 
in the terrors of the curse, he has equal pleasure in his love, 
and delight in the exercise of condescending goodness toward 
the works of his hands. And, in setting forth the laws of his 
kingdom, as he has incorporated the penal sanction with the 
law, for an attestation to his holiness, against transgressors; so 
has he inscribed the pledges of the covenant, in an identity as 
intimate; attesting his love and grace to the obedient. And it 
is a striking illustration of the nature and design of all these pro- 
visions, — that, whilst the law abideth forever, and the promises 



292 The Elohim Revealed, [chap. ix. 

of the covenant will survive even the ruin of the fall, and be 
possessed forever in heaven, — the penal threatening does not 
thus survive; but, with the lost enemies of God, cast out, its 
authority and dominion will exist only in hell. The law that 
rules heaven's blessed inhabitants will know no sanction of 
wrath; — it will proclaim no alternative of terror. Its only ar- 
gument — as, its only precept — is, love. Its only sanction is 
the promise. 

In full accordance with the views here presented, is the fact, 
that we have no example of the promulgation of the law from 
God, even to fallen man, nor reason to believe that it has ever 
occurred in any case in the universe, in which the precepts were 
not accompanied with gratuitous promises, superadded to the 
preceptive and penal provisions. 

It now becomes necessary to consider more particularly what 
was the meaning of the introduction of the trees of life, and of 
§4. The trees knowledge, and the provisions respecting them; — 
of life and and what relation they bore to the law and promise. 
of nowe ge. ^ rp^ reservation of the tree of knowledge con- 
stituted a most gracious and significant definition of the extent and 
entireness of the sovereignty conferred upon Adam, over the earth 
and all that was in it. Had the inaugural decree been in gene- 
ral terms, — "Let him have dominion over all the earth," — there 
would have been room to question whether very extensive limi- 
tations were not intended, — whether large reservations were 
not implied in the very nature of the case. But when a specific 
exception is formally made in the very deed of gift itself, the 
inference is hence justly deduced, that the defined exception is 
exclusive of all others. The same propriety which induced the 
specification of the one, would have caused others to be named, 
had they existed. Hence, the prohibition of the fruit of the 
one tree was a confirmation and seal to the bestowment of all 
things beside. 

2. The prohibition was a becoming and signal indication of 
the Maker's reservation to himself of the eminent domain of 
earth and the creatures. Having given to man a dominion ab- 
solute and universal "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl 



sect, in.] The Laic a Covenant of Life. 293 

of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over 
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth;" over "every 
herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and 
every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree, yielding seed;" 
man was admonished, by the reservation of a single tree, insig- 
nificant and valueless in itself, that the ultimate supremacy still 
belonged to God, — that all his large possessions were merely 
loaned to him by his Creator's goodness, and subject to be re- 
called at his pleasure; and hence that all were to be held under 
homage to the Giver, and in subordination to his glory. 

3. It served as a test of man's obedience, simple, infallible, 
and easily appreciated by the intelligent creatures. The ques- 
tion is sometimes asked, — Why all the tremendous interests of 
heaven and hell were staked on so trivial a matter as the eating 
of the forbidden fruit? The point to be determined was, 
whether man would in unwavering rectitude hold to the great 
end for which he was made, — whether he would cheerfully and 
perseveringly bow with implicit deference to the sovereignty, 
and do the will, of his Maker. The object of the test is, not 
the satisfaction of Him who, searching Adam's inmost heart, 
could there without experiment detect the first emotions of re- 
bellion; but, — the declaration of His glory and vindication of 
His dealings with man, to man and the witnessing intelligences 
of heaven. For such a purpose, any positive precept will serve; 
and the simplest requirement, the most insignificant limitation, 
better than any other; because it presents the least temptation 
to transgression, and leaves the simple issue of obedience un- 
burdened by any complex questions or relations. 

Still further, the test employed was an infallible one. The 
inquiry is sometimes made, — What if Adam had not eaten the 
fruit, but had sinned in some other way? The supposition is 
an impossible one. Such is the constitution of the human 
heart, that it necessarily and instantaneously assails any badge 
of a rejected sovereignty. It were as reasonable to suppose that 
the galley-slave who has toiled in chains, should continue to wear 
the badges of his slavery, retaining on his neck and limbs the 
collar and manacles engraven with the name of the master whom 



294 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ix. 

he has murdered, and tokens of the tyranny from which he has 
fled; as to suppose that Adam should have cast off his allegiance 
to God, and yet have failed to assert the liberty which he thus as- 
sumed, by trampling on the seal of obedience. Why is it, that, in 
every insurrection against human governments, the first attack is 
against the insignia of the government which they seek to over- 
throw? Why was it, that, when the boys of the Polytechnic 
School rushed forth, and threw themselves into the midst of the 
insurgent population of Paris, their first act was to tear from 
their caps and shoulders the badges of their allegiance to the 
king'? Why do the revolutionists so eagerly assail and destroy 
the statues of the monarchy, the gorgeous furniture of the pa- 
lace, the canopied throne oi the sovereign, and even the very 
tombs of his ancestors ? It is the development of a principle, 
which, if not essential in the constitution of rational beings, is 
at least indelibly enstamped on the nature of man. Hence it 
was, that our first parents, once rejecting the sovereignty of 
God. must, by an inevitable necessity of their nature, signalize 
that act. by contempt manifested to any precept whatever which 
God had enjoined. 

4. A seal is a significant symbol, used for the purpose of formal 
and public attestation, to the confirming of a document between 
parties. Such a purpose was fulfilled by the trees of life and of 
knowledge, constituting, as we have already seen, seals, the one 
of the promise of life, and the other of the penalty of death, 
annexed to the moral law. The law having been given, accom- 
panied with its alternative sanctions, God plants these trees, 
gives them their names, and communicates to Adam the ordi- 
nances respecting them; and in so doing declares, " 'These trees 
be witnesses to my faithfulness, and the unchangeable integrity of 
my law. The tree of life will witness, that your obedience shall 
have the reward of life ; whilst the tree of the knowledge of good 
and evil, testifies that transgression shall be followed with my 
curse. As you eat of the one, strengthen yourself in obedience, 
by the hope it cherishes ; and as you behold the forbidden fruit 
of the other, beware of the curse which it proclaims !" 

5. The prohibition respecting the tree of knowledge was the 



sect, iv.] The Law a Covenant of Life. 295 

introduction of the positive form of the covenant ; of which we 
shall speak presently. It is possible that some one may object, 
to what has been thus far presented, that, although the law is 
now constantly accompanied with the promise of life, it was not 
so known to Adam ; and that whatever may have been the secret 
meaning of the symbols which surrounded him, they were not so 
understood by him. In reply, we ask, Can any one imagine the 
Spirit of God in the heart of unfallen Adam to have been less 
intelligent than in the prophets and apostles, his fallen children ? 
Was the law which is written on the heart, less legible before 
the fall, than now, even in the heathen world, where it plainly 
reads, "Do, and live"? In short, the objection implies, that 
the pledge of life on condition of obedience, was only given after 
transgression had made the attainment impossible ; — that, whilst 
Adam was surrounded with most significant symbols and seals 
of the promise, their meaning was hidden from him, and the 
pledge concealed, knowledge of which might have been the 
means of securing his obedience, and consequent happiness ; and 
that this was done only to mock the imbecility of his fallen seed, 
by the subsequent disclosure to them of the hidden meaning, 
and announcement of a blessed alternative, now beyond their 
reach ! 

Having gained this point, we are prepared to entertain the 
question, whether the transaction between God and Adam, 
2 5. The pro- wkich we have here discussed, constituted a cove- 
mise was a naiit. Here, a clear understanding of terms is 
necessary, in order to any satisfactory conclusions. 
The following definitions indicate the sense in accordance 
with which we employ the specified terms. A law is a pre- 
cept promulgated by a sovereign; it is a mandate of right- 
ful authority; commonly accompanied by a penal sanction. 
A promise is a simple contract made by one party with 
another. "A promise is in the nature of a verbal covenant; 
and wants nothing but the solemnity of writing and sealing, to 
make it absolutely the same."* A covenant is a contract be- 

* Blackstone. iii. 157. 



296 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. ix. 

tween two parties, by which one or each promises to the other 
to do, or not to do, a specified thing. The essential character- 
istic of a covenant is, that it brings one party, or each, under a 
voluntary obligation to the other. 

In law, a technical distinction is made between a simple con- 
tract and a covenant ; consisting in the fact that the former is 
without, and the latter with, a seal. "A covenant is the agree- 
ment or consent of two or more, by deed in writing, sealed and de- 
livered, whereby either or one of the parties doth promise the other 
that something is done already or shall be done afterwards."* 
" An executory contract is an agreement of two or more persons, 
upon sufficient consideration, to do or not to do a particular thing. 
The agreement is either under seal, or not under seal. If under 
seal, it is denominated a specialty." "As an agreement, valid 
in law, necessarily requires parties, a sufficient consideration, 
and an object, all these essential members of the definition ought 
to be stated, or the definition is imperfect. A sufficient con- 
sideration is, in the purview of the English law, essential to the 
legal obligation of a contract ; and the only difference between 
simple contracts and specialties is that, in the latter case, the 
consideration is presumed ; and so strongly, that the obligor is 
estopped, by the solemnity of the instrument, from averring a 
want of consideration, "f 

In divine covenants, there is generally an accompanying seal. 
But this is neither essential nor invariable. Thus, the Abra- 
hamic covenant was made when Abram was seventy -five years 
old, (Gen. xii. 1-4;) and was expressly declared to be a covenant 
when he was not more than eighty-four. "In the same day the 
Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have 
I given this land." — Gen. xv. 18. And yet, it was not until the 
patriarch was ninety-nine years of age, that the seal of the cove- 
nant was instituted. (Gen. xvii. 1, 10.) The essential matter in 
a covenant is the mutual stipulation ; or, as defined by Kent, 
parties, a sufficient consideration, and an object. 

Of a covenant, these things are to be observed. (1.) As to 

* Terms of Law, Plowd. 308; in Sheppard's Touchstone, Ch. vii. § 1. 
f Kent, Com. 450. 



sect, v.] The Laic a Covenant of Life. 297 

the parties, equality is not necessary. In this respect all that is 
requisite is, that the parties be competent to the responsibilities 
which, by the terms of the agreement, attach to them severally. 
A parent and child, a master and servant, a sovereign and 
subject, may enter into covenant; provided it calls for nothing 
of the weaker party which he is unable to perform. It 
is also an undeniable fact that God and man may enter into 
covenant. The Scriptures narrate several examples of the kind, 
which are by the Holy Spirit expressly called covenants, and 
which are found, on examination, to contain all the elements of 
such a transaction. The Abrahamic covenant is described in 
the 17th chapter of Genesis ; the covenant of Sinai, in Ex. xxxiv. 
27 ; and the covenant with David, celebrated in the lxxxixth and 
other Psalms. (2.) It is not necessary to the creation of a cove- 
nant that both parties be in every instance active in its forma- 
tion. If the silent party is, by the terms of the contract, 
brought under obligation for the performance of any thing not 
already due, his express consent is requisite. But, if the obli- 
gation already rests on him, the covenant may take effect, even 
though he be inactive or hostile. Thus God, by Moses, declares 
to Israel, " Neither with you only do I make this covenant and 
this oath, but with him that standeth here with us this day 
before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here 
with us this day. ... Lest there be among you man, or woman, 
or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the 
Lord our God. . . . The Lord will not spare him." — Deut. xxix. 
14-20. (3.) The condition of the agreement must be a valuable 
consideration. It may be a duty of native and essential obli- 
gation; as, when a parent agrees with his son, "If you will 
take care of me in my old age, you shall have such a share of 
my estate." It may be a lawful precept, made by a rightful 
authority. Or it may be something altogether new, and dis- 
cretionary with the party to whom it is proposed. In the latter 
case, as already stated, express consent is requisite. In the two 
former, it is not; for the reason that the party has no right to 
refuse acquiescence, and hence justice and the common sense of 
mankind concur in presuming it of him and holding him right- 



298 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. ix. 

fully bound by obligations to which it was his duty to have cor- 
dially consented. He may not plead his own wrongful declina- 
ture in bar of the responsibilities which he ought cheerfully to 
have assumed. 

To apply these principles to the case before us. Here are two 
parties, — God, "the rewarder of them that diligently seek him," 
— Heb. xi. 6; and Adam, — fully competent, severally, to the 
several obligations which are prescribed in the transaction. Here 
is man's perfect obedience, which God graciously condescends 
to accept as a valuable consideration, although in no way profit- 
able to Him. This condition is a duty of necessary and inde- 
feasible obligation ; in regard to which, therefore, Adam's ac- 
quiescence was not essential, although it was undoubtedly given. 
Here is eternal life, the object proposed to man, to be obtained 
upon the condition of his obedience. All these, the essential 
elements in the covenant, belonged to its original and native 
constitution, as written on Adam's heart in his creation. To 
them, add the seals which were afterward given in the trees of 
life and of knowledge. Thus have we every feature of the most 
solemn form of covenant action. 

Of the seals, however, strictly speaking, the tree of life alone 
confirmed the covenant. The tree of knowledge was the seal 
of the curse of the law. " The providence of God toward man 
in the estate in which he was created, was . . . entering into a 
covenant of life with him, upon condition of personal, perfect 
and perpetual obedience, of which the tree of life was a pledge, 
and forbidding to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, upon the pain of death."* 

We have said that Adam acquiesced in the terms of the cove- 
nant. That such was the case, follows inevitably from two con- 
siderations. Those terms were originally engraved on Adam's 
heart in his creation, as we have already seen. To this, the as- 
sertion of a failure on his part to approve of them is itself a con- 
tradiction in terms. Not only so, but the condition which bound 
Adam was perfect obedience. If Adam, therefore, withheld ac- 

* Larger Catechism, Question 20. 



sect, v.] The Lata a Covenant of Life. 299 

quiescence in the covenant, it is in other words to say, that he 
refused to recognise the duty of obedience which already rested 
upon him, — a refusal which would have constituted instant- 
aneous rebellion, and entirely precluded any further relations of 
amity with God. On this supposition, his first entrance on the 
stage is in the attitude of transgression, — a supposition contra- 
dicted by all the facts of the case, and which implies him to 
have been created apostate. 

Our conclusion from this inquiry is, that God did most 
graciously inscribe on Adam's heart the provisions of a covenant 
which proposed to him eternal life, upon condition of perfect obe- 
dience to the divine law; and afterward sealed the law and cove- 
nant by the transactions respecting the trees of life and know- 
ledge ; and that Adam did, at first passively, but fully, and after- 
ward, upon the coming in of the positive precept, actively and cor- 
dially, consent to the terms, and accept the promise of life thus 
made. This transaction is, by the Spirit of God, expressly called 
a covenant. Hosea vi. 7: — "They like men (d*$|j like Adam) 
have transgressed the covenant." 

But, did we pause with the enunciation of the covenant in this 
its native form, we should leave out of the account a most im- 
3 6# p os ui ve portant element, in the matter of our relation to 
constitution of Adam, and interest in the covenant as made with 
the covenant. ^-^ ^y e hsive seen the law to have been inscribed 
on his heart in covenant form, constituting the covenant of 
works. That it, thus laying hold of his nature, was not only a 
covenant with him individually, but with all who were in him, 
the entire race of man, we shall show hereafter. Had the cove- 
nant continued in this its original constitution, without change 
or limitation, the whole race must have passed through a per- 
petual probation, each individual first in his entire ancestral 
line, and then in his own person ; — a probation in Adam until the 
birth of Seth, in him until the birth of Enos, and so on, until 
the occurrence of what in that case would have been the almost 
certain result, — the fall and ruin of all; each one becoming 
apostate, either by a personal act, or in the loins of some an- 
cestor. The result thus pointed out, it would seem, must cer- 



300 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ix. 

tainly have followed; because the covenant, in its native form, 
contained no provisions for the termination of the trial, and con- 
firmation in holiness; and, since a fallible being is one who may 
fall, the chances of apostasy, however small at the beginning, 
would, in the lapse of eternity, become overwhelmingly great. 

The positive transaction respecting the tree of knowledge, as 
we have seen, did not introduce the covenant : — it was already 
engraven in Adam's heart. Nor did it, in the slightest degree, 
change or modify the terms. These were, already and un- 
changeably, "Do, and live; — transgress, and die." It did not 
constitute Adam our head, for this he was, by the native con- 
stitution of the covenant ; as we shall presently show. But, on 
the other hand, the prohibition of the fruit of the forbidden 
tree did effect a change in man's relation to the covenant, which 
is fundamental to the whole case, as it now stands. It consti- 
tutes that provision a most wonderful display of the amazing 
riches of God's boundless wisdom and love to man; rendering it 
pregnant with all the treasures of grace and immortality which 
flow to us from that same covenant, as it is now fulfilled in 
Christ. We have seen, that the force of the precept respecting 
the tree of knowledge was, to limit the period of probation. It 
reduced the general provisions of the covenant to specific terms, 
— terms limited to a specified act of obedience, and to a time 
necessarily brief; as the action and obedience contemplated in 
the transaction had respect to a perishing tree, and a transient 
garden home. Not only was the probation limited to a finite 
period, but to a period so brief as to imply the close of proba- 
tion for the whole race, in the person of Adam, before the en- 
trance of his posterity upon the stage. This is seen, in the fact 
that the condition was located in that garden, which was en- 
closed by God, and fenced off from the rest of the earth, as the 
temporary home of our first parents ; and not designed for their 
permanent abode; nor at all for that of their posterity; since 
the world, in all its length and breadth, was given to them ; and 
the duty laid upon them of occupying and subduing it all. — 
" God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and 
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have do- 



sect, vi.] The Law a Covenant of Life. 301 

minion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, 
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." — Gen. 
i. 28. "Have dominion," — a dominion of which we witness the 
coronation scene, in the review of the creatures, and bestow- 
ment of names upon them; — a dominion, however, which could 
not be fully exercised by man, whilst confined within the limits 
of the garden. No candid mind can review the whole narra- 
tive of the dealings of God with Adam and Eve, without being 
brought to the conclusion, that the Edenic dispensation — the 
probation attaching to the tree of knowledge — was, from the 
first, designed to be exceedingly brief, — to be terminated, if 
Adam had continued in obedience, by a confirmation, rest from 
trial, and entrance on the reward, — the early occurrence of 
which was aptly shadowed, in the early coming of the Sabbath, 
which shed its holy and peaceful light on the first evening of 
Adam's life. The effect, and specific design, of this limiting of 
the probation to one, in whom was comprehended the common 
nature of all, was, to open the way for the coming of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, the second Adam, under the terms of this very 
covenant; so that, by virtue of his personal and temporary obe- 
dience, all his seed, to whom he imparts his Spirit, and so unites 
them to himself, are endowed thereby with a title in the merits of 
his finished righteousness, wrought by that obedience ; and, in the 
life, which was promised in the covenant, upon fulfilment of its 
terms. The fact, that the temporary obedience of the second 
Adam was accepted, as fulfilment of the terms of the covenant, 
on behalf of all his people, is conclusive to the effect, that a like 
temporary faithfulness on the part of the first Adam would have 
secured eternal life to all his posterity; since in his whole cove- 
nant position and action he was "the figure of him that was to 
come." — Eom. v. 14. We do not, at present, insist further on 
this point; because it is inseparably involved in all that has gone 
before and shall follow ; and because it will not be questioned by 
any, who assent to the evidence presented on the other con- 
nected parts of the doctrine. 

To object, therefore, to the positive transaction between God 
and Adam, is, to complain that God did not give us a myriad 



302 The Elohlm Revealed. [chap. ix. 

chances of falling, instead of one; since the only effect of that 
transaction was, to secure confirmation and eternal life to man, 
upon condition of Adam's temporary obedience; instead of the 
race being held to a perpetual probation, in Adam and in them- 
selves. To complain of being held responsible for Adam's sin, 
is, to object to being held to obedience at all; since, in any ease, 
Adam's sin was our sin; the forces which are in us, — the nature 
which we inherit from him, is the very nature which, in him, 
rebelled; — the same, not in kind, merely, — but, as flowing con- 
tinuously from him to us. 

The nature of the life promised, remains to be considered. 
Death, the penalty of the law, we have seen to have signified, 
I 7. The i;fe the wrath of God exercised against sin. Correla- 
promised. ^ive to this is the meaning of the word, life, as used 
to express the promise of the covenant. The idea designed by 
it, is not that of continued existence, merely; nor, in fact, has 
it, otherwise than by implication, reference to the continuance 
of existence, at all ; but, to the favour of God,' and the happiness 
which it must convey to the creature on whom he smiles. This 
was the meaning of the word, and the essential matter of the 
covenant, as addressed to Adam. So the Psalmist declares, "In 
his favour is life." — Psalm xxx. 5. Hence the language of our 
Saviour: — "This is life eternal; that they might know thee, the 
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." — John 
xvii. 3. The same definition is illustrated, by the contrast 
stated by John the Baptist : — " He that believeth on the Son 
hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall 
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." — John iii. 
36. As the elements which appear in the infliction of the penal 
sanction of the law differ according to the variety of the natures 
that suffer; so, on the other hand, the favour of God, which is 
expressed by the one word, life, develops, in its action, elements 
of happiness, differing according to the diversity of the na- 
tures in which it is realized. The life, or blessedness, enjoyed 
by the angelic hosts under the smile of their Creator, varies thus 
circumstantially from that which would have been realized by 
man in continued innocency; this, again, differs from that to 



sect, yi.] The Law a Covenant of Life. 303 

which, redeemed men are called ; and none of these is altogether 
similar to that of the incarnate Word, who says of himself, "As 
the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to 
have life in himself." — John v. 26. 

The promise secured the continual smile of God, resting upon 
and prospering Adam, in body and soul, in his labours and enjoy- 
ments, in his possessions and pursuits, in his person, his family, 
and his race ; in time, till the close of his probation ; and more 
richly still in a blessed eternity, where, confirmed in holiness, 
and translated from earth, he should possess the unspeakable 
joys of God's presence forever. Hedged in by God's favour, he 
would have been free alike from evil or alarm. Whilst every 
enjoyment had been complete, and every pleasure perfect, no 
sorrow had occurred, to mar his satisfaction, nor anxiety, to 
moderate it. In short, the promise secured to him the omni- 
potent favour of his Creator, resting upon and blessing him, in 
every element of his being, and all the compass and eternal con- 
tinuance of his existence. 

To Adam's body, the favour of God, pledged in the covenant, 
secured the enjoyment of perfect and perpetual health, unalloyed 
by sickness or pain, and unexposed to accident, — the perfection 
of all his members and of the exercise of all his senses, adapted 
and attuned, as they were, to appreciate and enjoy the harmonies 
of surrounding nature, as it smiled in the light of God's favour, — 
the elasticity and the zest of unfailing youth, — unwearying 
vigour, exempt from the exhaustion of toil, and the debility of 
hunger, — and at length, without dissolution or return to dust, 
transformation and immortality in heaven. 

To his mind, it pledged unerring knowledge of all that was 
requisite, either for the performance of his duties, the enjoyment 
of God's blessings, or preparation for the higher employments 
and more exalted joys of heaven, — perfect freedom from aberra- 
tion or obscurity, — continual growth of all his capacities in their 
exercise, — and entire freedom from those apprehensions and 
alarms, that disquietude and disappointment, and those multi- 
plied sources of mental affliction, which the curse has infused 
into the cup of life. 



304 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. ix. 

But especially did the covenant seal all spiritual blessings to 
Adam. This involved the perpetual vigour and continual 
growth of all the features of God's image in his soul, — free and 
unreserved communion with his condescending and beneficent 
Creator, — and final confirmation in holiness, termination of the 
state of trial, and translation to a higher sphere, — to life in 
heaven, — to that mansion, of which it is written, " In thy pre- 
sence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for 
evermore." — Psalm xvi. 11. 



CHAPTER X. 

ADAM THE COVENANT HEAD OF THE RACE. 

Thus far we have viewed Adam as an individual, personally 
the object of God's creative and providential power and care, 
a l. Proof of sustaining to his Maker relations of peculiar pri- 
Adam's head- vilege and responsibility, by gift and covenant. 
slip. "But, did we stop here, we should have exceedingly 

inadequate conceptions of his real position, in transacting with 
God; and of the true extent of the responsibilities which he 
sustained, and the ruin which he incurred by his sin. In 
creating, his Maker endowed him with a prolific constitution; 
and in the blessing pronounced upon him at his creation, prior 
to any of the external actions by which the covenant of nature 
was formally sealed, he was ordained to multiply, — to become, 
of one, the myriads of the human race. In all God's dealings 
with him, he is regarded in this light, as the root and father of 
a race who should proceed from him. They, by virtue of this 
derivative relation to him, were contemplated by God, as, in him 
their head, parties in all the transactions which had respect to 
the covenant. Thus, they sinned in his sin; fell in his apostasy; 
were depraved in his corruption; and in him became children 
of Satan and of the wrath of God. 

By the phrase, covenant head, we do not mean that Adam was 
by covenant made head of the race ; but that, being its head, by 
virtue of the nature with which God had endowed him, he stood 
as such in the covenant. Adam sustained in his person two 
distinct characters, the demarcation of which must be carefully 
observed, if we would attain to any just conclusions, as to the 
relation he held toward us, and the effects upon us of his actions. 
First, in him was a nature of a specific character, the common 

20 305 



306 The Elohlm Revealed. [chap. x. 

endowment of the human race; and transmissible to them, by- 
propagation, with their being. Again, he was an individual 
person, endowed with the nature thus bestowed on him in com- 
mon with his posterity. Personal actions, and relations of his, 
which did not affect his nature, were peculiar to him as a private 
person. But such as affected his nature, with him, and to the 
same extent, involved all those to whom that nature was given, 
in its bestowal on him. He was endowed, as we have seen, with 
knowledge, righteousness and holiness; and with a liberty of 
will, which, whilst fully competent to stand in untarnished and 
perpetual holiness and rectitude, was free and unrestricted in 
the power of apostatizing from God, and embracing sin instead 
of holiness. Any exertion of his will or powers, the effect of 
which had been to strengthen holy principles within him, affect- 
ing as it would his nature, would have been imputed to those 
who in him were partakers in his native holiness. Any act of 
his will, or exertion of any of the powers of his being, the ten- 
dency of which had been to weaken those principles in his 
nature, would have been in like manner imputed. On the con- 
trary, actions which bore no relation to such effects as these, 
were personal to the actor, and not imputed to others. To the 
former class belonged acts of obedience to God, such as tilling 
the ground, observing the Sabbath, and worshipping God, — 
acts, which, by the force of habit, gave increasing strength to 
the holy nature in which he was created; — or any want of 
watchfulness in view of the dangers which were at hand, or 
failure to seek divine strength to uphold him in integrity. To 
the latter class of actions pertained such as partaking of food, 
and indulging in nightly slumber, — acts which had no special 
moral character, and exerted no plastic influence on his nature. 
Adam was thus constituted, and, the covenant was engraved 
on his heart and nature, as he was a propagative being, the 
father of the race. As thus engraved, it is actually transmitted 
to us, although the transgression has abrogated its power as a 
covenant of life. It follows inevitably, from these facts, that it 
was given to Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity, — 
that he was in it their representative; receiving the covenant 



sect, i.] Adam tJie Covenant Head of the Race, 307 

for them; and acting under it on their behalf, as well as on his 
own. 

In all God's other dealings with Adam he is looked upon and 
addressed, not as an individual merely, but as representing in 
his person all men. So it was in his endowment with God's 
image, and with the name, "Adam," — a name not only proper 
to his person, but in the Bible constantly recognised and used as 
the generic name of the race. So that, in fact, when we say 
that God made a covenant with Adam, it is equivalent, by the 
very force of the terms, to saying, that the covenant was made 
with the human race. This relation of Adam's name, and the 
representative office in which he was originally contemplated, is 
indicated very forcibly in the use of the plural, which occurs in 
the decree of creation: — "Let us make man (Adam) in our 
image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion." — Gen. 
i. 26. The blessing, — "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish 
the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion," — which is in the 
same connection, and in fulfilment of that creative decree, — in 
terms addresses not him alone, but in him all his seed. It was, 
as multiplied, that they were to replenish, subdue and rule the 
earth. So, too, the declaration that "it is not good for man to 
be alone," and the institution and blessing upon marriage, all 
contemplated not Adam alone, but in him all his children. To 
it Christ appeals, quoting the law recorded in Genesis ii. 24, as 
of perpetual and universal obligation: — "For this cause shall a 
man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and 
they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore," says Christ, "they 
are no more twain, but one flesh. "What therefore God hath 
joined together, let not man put asunder." — Matt. xix. 5, 6. 

That the curse, which was addressed to Adam, upon occasion 
of the transgression, included all his seed, is unquestionable. If 
it be viewed in its more extensive comprehension, as including the 
fierceness of the wrath and curse of almighty God, this is in opera- 
tion by nature against all the children of Adam. They are all " by 
nature the children of wrath." — Eph. ii. 3. If it be viewed in 
its more restricted sense, as having regard to the positive terms 
in which it was pronounced upon our first parents, this also in- 



308 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. x. 

eludes all the race. All Eve's daughters bitterly prove that 
not she only was meant, when it was said to her, "I will greatly 
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception ; in sorrow thou shalt 
bring forth children ; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and 
he shall rule over thee." — Gen. iii. 16. All the sons of Adam 
realize their interest in the sad inheritance of the curse which 
he incurred, in barrenness to the earth, and toil and sorrow tc 
its possessor. All, too surely, anticipate a personal experience 
of the dread assurance, " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt 
thou return." The curse of the violated covenant, thus ad- 
dressed to Adam, but, in the terms so addressed, denouncing all 
his seed, shows conclusively that the transgression of Adam im- 
plicated them, — that in the covenant of which that curse was the 
sanction, they were recognised in his person. 

We are not, however, left to mere inference on this question, 
strong and conclusive as are its deductions. The statements of 
the Scriptures are clear and explicit in respect to Adam's repre- 
sentative office. They will be considered hereafter. 

Here, however, it is necessary to enter more particularly into 
consideration of the manner in which Adam was invested with 
§ 2. Cause of the functions of a representative. That the cause 
Ms headship. f that office was the will of God, is not disputed by 
any who recognise the office. But it is a question how the 
Creator gave effect to his will in this matter. Was it by a 
positive arrangement, unessential to the completeness of the con- 
stitution of nature, extraneous to it, and superimposed upon it 
after the work of creation was complete ? Or, did He so order 
that the relation between the representative body and its 
head should be an organic one, — a relation implied in the very 
structure of Adam's nature, incorporated with the substance of 
his being, and constituting an element essential to the complete- 
ness and symmetry of the whole system, physical, moral and 
spiritual ? By many orthodox theologians of the present day, it 
is held, that the representative relation of Adam did not exist, 
until the positive provision was made respecting the tree of 
knowledge; when it was constituted by a decretive act of God's 
sovereignty. We are constrained to take the ojyposite view, 



sect, i.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 309 

and to maintain, with the older divines, that the relation is as 
old as the first inscription of the covenant of nature on the 
heart of man in his creation. We look upon it as the essential 
element in the parental relation as it subsisted in Adam, — the 
element which gives the family constitution all its significance. 
Purposing to introduce a system of representation into his moral 
government, God gave effect to that purpose by the manner in 
which the parental relation was constituted between Adam and 
his seed. 

Here, it is necessary to guard against overlooking the insepa- 
rable and essential relation which Adam's natural headship sus- 
tains to his federal office; and at the same time to avoid con- 
founding them together, in disregard of the important distinction 
which subsists between them. There is, in fact, a threefold dis- 
tinction, which it is needful here to observe. Adam was our 
natural head, as he was the source of our being. He was our 
moral head, as his nature was so constituted as to flow to us, 
not simply as it was in him at his creation, but enstamped with 
whatever moral attitude he might occupy at the time of the 
generation of his posterity ; whether upright or apostate. He 
was our federal head, as the covenant was addressed to, and en- 
stamped upon, his nature, so as to endow it with the promises 
conditioned upon obedience, and to bind it under the penalties 
in case of apostasy ; so that his posterity, in deriving their being 
and moral nature from Adam, must receive it in whatever atti- 
tude it occupied toward the covenant when transmitted from 
him. 

It is perfectly conceivable that Adam might have been so 
made as to be the natural head of the race, without being either 
its moral or federal head. He might have been so constituted 
creatively, as to propagate a posterity possessed of that image, 
natural and moral, in which he was created, irrespective of any 
act of apostasy of which he as an individual might have been 
guilty. Something analogous to this now actually takes place in 
the case of regenerate parents, who, as natural heads, transmit to 
their offspring a nature, not renewed, as is their own, but apos- 
tate and depraved, as received by them originally. He might 



310 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. x. 

have been made the moral head of the race, without being ite 
federal head; and that in two ways. The moral law might have 
been written on his nature ; so that transgression by him should 
induce a revolution in that nature, and involve its transmission, 
thus apostate and under the curse, to his seed ; without any cove- 
nant provisions, addressed either to him or them. This, in 
fact, is the very thing which semi-Pelagians assert to have been 
the case. Or, the case thus supposed might have been circum- 
stantially modified, by the making of a covenant personally with 
Adam, without inscribing it on his nature, and, hence, without 
involving the heirs of that nature in its provisions; leaving 
them to a legal responsibility, as in the case already supposed. 

But although it was thus possible for Adam to have been 
made merely the natural, or the natural and moral, head of the 
race, without being its federal head, — the reverse was impossible. 
In order that he should be their federal head, it was necessary 
that they should derive from him both their being and the moral 
attitude of their nature. Nor was it possible that the law and 
covenant should have been engraven, as it was, in his propaga- 
tive nature, without his being the covenant head of the race. 
In fact, that inscription constituted his inauguration into that 
office. The phrase, natural headship, is sometimes used, by way 
of contrast or opposition to federal headship ; as inclusive of 
every thing not involved in the latter term, — expressing the 
derivation, from Adam, of being and moral nature. 

It will be remembered that, in this view, we do not ignore 
the positive transaction respecting the forbidden tree ; nor fail 
to appreciate its importance. Of it we have spoken, as consti- 
tuting a most signal and essential element in the whole matter 
of Adam's position before God ; and our relation to that position. 
It was a provision of the purest grace, consisting in a limitation 
of the responsibilities of man, and a reduction of the probation, 
from being perpetual, to the brief period in which Adam should 
have been alone in the garden, prior to the birth of any of his 
sons. The point upon which we here insist is, that in the purely 
sovereign and gratuitous provisions made by God in respect to 
the forbidden tree, neither Adam nor his sons were subjected to 



sect, ii.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 311 

any new obligations, nor involved in any responsibility not 
already by nature resting upon them. It was a limitation and 
reduction, and not an extension of our native responsibilities, as 
in covenant with God. We are not held accountable for Adam's 
breach of the covenant, in consequence of the transaction re- 
specting the tree ; but because of the inscription of the covenant 
in Adam's nature, and our in-being in him, in whose nature it 
was inscribed. So far as this point is concerned, no other effect 
results to us from the positive constitution, than this : — that, by 
it, God engaged to accept the temporary obedience of one, in 
whom the nature of all was embraced ; and, upon condition of 
that obedience, to grant to him and all in him confirmation and 
life. Whereas, without such provision, that nature was under 
a perpetual liability to fall, — first in Adam, and then in his seed; 
and so, to involve in ruin the transgressor, with all to whom the 
apostate nature should flow from him. 

The point which we now propose to establish is, that we were 
federally in Adam, by virtue of his investiture with our common 
nature, with the covenant inscribed in it; — that the covenant 
being written on his nature, and provision made, in the parental 
relation, for the transmission to us of that nature, thus bound in 
covenant, — the necessary effect of the whole arrangement was, 
to constitute Adam our federal head, by virtue of the parental 
relation thus characterized. 

Our first argument is derived from the fact, that the covenant 
is actually found in our nature, as derived from our first parents ; 
I 3. Proof of and that, as thus received, it is clothed in the un- 
our doctrine, altered integrity of its terms ; and accompanied with 
an indelible record of its having been broken, prior to any action 
or consciousness in us as individuals. " The covenant of nature 
is so called, because it not only enforces obedience to that law, 
which as to its chief features was inscribed in man's nature, but 
also because it attached to the universal nature of man, even of 
those who were yet to have existence by the order of generation."* 
The alternative which the facts present, is, either, that the con- 

* Van Mastricht, Lib. III. Cap. xii. \ 8. 



312 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. x. 

ventional terms which, were first addressed to Adam's intellect 
merely, through the ear, were transferred to his' nature for trans- 
mission to his seed, after those terms had been rendered futile 
by transgression, — or, that they were originally given, not by 
conventional agreement, but by creative inscription on Adam's 
heart and nature, as an element in his generative constitution, 
binding all to whom that nature should come. Here is the un- 
questionable and important fact, that the covenant, as inscribed 
on Adam's heart, is transmitted with his nature to all his seed; 
and as it was broken by him prior to their procreation, and had 
impressed the indelible traces of that violation upon his heart, so 
precisely is it reproduced in us ; — the same in terms ; and the 
same in the evidences of transgression. As the die, which is en- 
stamped upon the outer of many sheets of paper, not only im- 
presses its figure upon that, but strikes through, and marks with 
the same image the whole, so is it here. The creative voice that 
addressed Adam's nature, saying, — Do and live, — spake not to 
him alone ; but, transmitted through that nature, is heard by us, 
in the same promise, — Do and live. The same curse which by 
the conditions of the covenant fell upon Adam's soul, and blighted 
his whole nature, reappears continually, as an element insepa- 
rably connected with that nature, as from him it flows to his 
numerous seed. The same terror of the curse which caused 
Adam to hide from the presence of his Maker, still pursues us, 
and creates in us terror at that same presence. It is thus 
abundantly clear, that, whatever provisions may have been made 
by positive dispensation with Adam, the covenant, in its original 
form, as written on his heart, made provision, not for him only, 
but for his seed with him ; including them in its engagements, 
and holding them under its sanctions ; and this, not only for 
personal but for native conformity, in the first parents, in whom 
the common nature was so invested and endowed. 

Another fact, which leads us directly to the same conclusion, 
is the manner in which Christ came under the covenant of 
works, and fulfilled it. Of this we shall have occasion to treat 
more in detail hereafter. For the present, it is only necessary 
to notice, that the righteousness of Christ is meritoriously ac- 



sect, in.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 313 

ceptable, no otherwise, than as it is conformity to the law, as a 
covenant of works. Under the obligations of this covenant, he 
came, by becoming a son of Adam and seed of the woman. 
He was "made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem 
them that were under the law." — Gal. iv. 4, 5. But that the 
law under which he came was not the positive precept concern- 
ing the tree of knowledge, we need not prove. The law which 
Christ obeyed, — the covenant which he fulfilled, was that which 
was written on Adam's heart. Had it been otherwise, the tree 
of knowledge should have been preserved; and the obedience 
of the Son of God, must have related to the prohibition respect- 
ing that tree. The fact, therefore, that Christ came, under the 
covenant of nature, and not under the positive precept; and 
that he not only fulfilled the requirements of that covenant, but 
endured its curse, as a son of Adam, — thus expiating the sins 
of those who, in the covenant of grace, were given to him, to 
be so redeemed, — shows conclusively, that in the covenant of 
nature, Adam stood as the representative of his race. This is 
unquestionable, inasmuch as the very covenant which Adam our 
head violated, must by the second Adam be restored; the very 
precept which the one as our representative transgressed, it was 
necessary that the other, coming into his place, should obey; 
and the very curse which the transgression incurred, must the 
Eestorer endure. In short, the Lamb slain from the founda- 
tion of the world, the last Adam, was "the second man;" 1 Cor. 
xv. 47, — the immediate substitute and successor of Adam, "the 
first man," upon his failure. His position, as such, differed from 
Adam's in nothing, except in the accidents which were referable 
to their several persons. If, then, the second Adam fulfilled 
the covenant, in its native form, and not as embodied in the 
positive precept respecting the tree, the first Adam was under 
it, as representative, in its native form; and could not, there- 
fore, have been called to that office, in a positive transaction, 
which supervened upon its native constitution, and occurred 
after it. 

In God's other dealings with Adam, where any conventional 
representation is out of the question, he is yet addressed and 



314 The Elohbn Revealed. [chap. x. 

dealt with as the impersonation of the whole race. So it was, 
in his endowment with God's image; in the blessing, "Be fruit- 
ful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and 
have dominion;" in the gift of the herbs and fruits, for food; 
and in the institution and blessing of marriage. 

In fact, Adam's representative office would seem to be the 
key, and the only key, to the whole family institution, and to 
the reason of the production of the entire generations of men, 
not from one pair only, but from one individual. As the indi- 
vidual Adam, he was formed by the creative hand, and the 
nature of the entire race implanted in him; the law and the 
covenant are inscribed on that nature ; and the blessing of fruit- 
fulness pronounced upon him. He is left in this solitude long 
enough to give it emphasis ; and attention is called to it, by a 
special inquiry for a companion, among all the creatures of God. 
But none is found. Eve is then formed, — not from the dust, as 
was Adam ; which would have been to introduce an element into 
the race, independent of the covenant as made by inscription in 
the nature of its head, — but out of his side. Thus was indicated 
essential equality, but responsible subordination to him as head; 
and communion with him in the covenant which had compre- 
hended his entire nature. All this is very forcibly asserted by 
Adam, when she was brought to him. " This is now bone of my 
bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, be- 
cause she was taken out of man." Thus he asserts his headship 
and authority over her, as over a member of his own body. 
And still the two retain the name of the first man. " Male and 
female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name 
Adam." — Gen. v. 2. And when afterward the earth was filled 
with their teeming sons, they all, in their myriad hosts, are, at 
last, but Adam still. That, in the Scriptures, is the generic 
name of the entire race. 

The parental relation is, in fact, habitually spoken of as na- 
tively representative. This is so, in cases in which any con- 
§4. other Scrip- ventional agreement to that effect is entirely pre- 
ture examples. eluded by the circumstances. Particularly is this 
the case, in all the covenants of which the Scriptures give us 



sect, in.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 315 

any account, as entered into by God. Thus it was in the eternal 
covenant between the Father and the Son ; of which we shall 
hereafter speak particularly. Its promise is thus stated by the 
Spirit of God: — "I have made a covenant with my chosen. I 
have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish 
forever, and build up thy throne to all generations." — Psalm 
lxxxix. 3, 4. The representative relation of the second Adam 
to his people is in the Scriptures everywhere expressed in terms 
of the parental relation. Although, out of respect to his eternal 
sonship to the Father, he is perhaps never specifically called, 
father, yet is he the husband of a fruitful spouse, — the church; 
her children are his seed, begotten by him, through the mission 
of the incorruptible seed, the Holy Spirit, by whom they are 
born anew unto him. Similar is the case of Abraham. Paul 
declares Levi to have paid tithes in Abraham; because "he was 
yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." — ■ 
Heb. vii. 10. The representative relation of Abraham to all be- 
lievers is also expressed by this title of father. So it is in the 
covenant: — "A father of many nations have I made thee." 
"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and 
thy seed after thee, — to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed 
after thee." — Gen. xvii. 5, 7. It is in the same manner defined 
in the subsequent scriptures. Says Paul, " If ye be Christ's, 
then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the pro- 
mise." — Gal. iii. 29. The same principle is illustrated in the 
covenant of Sinai. That covenant was made not only with the 
adult population, but with their little ones, and their unborn 
descendants. See Exodus xix, xx, and Deut. xxix. 9-13. — 
"Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that 
ye may prosper in all that ye do. Ye stand here this day, all 
of you, before the Lord your God ; your captains of your tribes, 
your elders and your officers, with all the men of Israel, your 
little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp; 
from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water; that 
thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and 
into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this 
day; that he may establish thee to-day for a people unto him- 



316 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. x. 

self, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, 
and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and 
to Jacob." The ten commandments were the law of this covenant. 
Says Moses, " The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb, 
.... saying, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee up out 
of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt have 
none other gods before me," &c. — Deut. v. 2-21. In respect to 
the result of this transaction, we are told, that "the people served 
the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders 
that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the 
Lord that he did for Israel." But when Joshua and all that 
generation were dead, "there arose another generation after 
them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had 
done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight 
of the Lord, and served Baalim." — Judges ii. 7-11. Of this 
apostasy of the descendants of those with whom, immediately, 
the covenant was made, God speaks as a breach of it: — "The 
covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took 
them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt ; which 
my covenant they brake." — Jer. xxxi. 32. In fact, God dis- 
tinctly declares, by Jeremiah, that he held Israel, in the days of 
that prophet, bound by the covenant of Sinai : — " Say unto them, 
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Cursed be the man that 
obeyeth not the words of this covenant which I commanded 
your fathers, in the day that I brought them forth out of the 
land of Egypt." — Jer. xi. 3, 4. Nothing can be more evident, 
than that, in all these dealings of God with Israel, the parental 
office is recognised as essentially representative in its native 
constitution. 

We might, to the same purpose, cite the covenant with Noah, 
and that with Jonadab the son of Bechab. The same idea is 
involved in the language commonly used, in the Scriptures, which 
represents the offspring as being an actual multiplication of the 
parent. "I will make my covenant between me and thee, and 
will multiply thee exceedingly." — Gen. xvii. 2. Compare Gen. 
i. 28; xxviii. 3. In fact, if Adam's representative office in the 
covenant did not have its basis in his parental relation to his 



sect, iv.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 317 

posterity, lie is alone in this respect. "Were this true, it would 
be the more remarkable, as the covenant made with Adam was 
undoubtedly typical of that with Christ, which is the model of 
all the others; or, rather, we should say, the others are but 
transcripts from it; as we shall hereafter see. 

The representative office, which is attributed to parents in 
the Scriptures, is never viewed in such a light as would imply, 
n g Identitl/ or consist with, its having origin in any positive 
by community provision of God with parents, or in any mere as- 
of nature. sertion of God's sovereignty. On the contrary, it 

is uniformly introduced and treated as natively in the parents, — 
as essentially involved in the very structure of the parental re- 
lation itself. In fact, there is here a principle, or law of repre- 
sentation, which is recognised, everywhere, in the Scriptures, 
and is the key to a great variety of expressions there employed. 
It is, that community in a propagated nature constitutes such a 
union, or oneness, as immediately involves the possessor in all 
the relations, moral and legal, of that nature, in the progenitor 
whence it springs. There are two cases, to which this principle 
specially applies, and by which its correctness may be tried. 
The first is that of Adam and his posterity. The second is that 
of Christ, the head and fountain of a new nature and life to his 
people. A third case in which we shall hereafter see light shed 
upon the principle here involved, is that of Christ taking upon 
himself the sin of the world, by becoming a man. The force 
of the argument from the relation of Christ to his people, can 
only be appreciated by bearing constantly in mind the fact, that 
Adam and the covenant with him and his seed in him were 
expressly designed as typical of the second Adam and his seed 
in him, as engaged to the Father in the eternal covenant. 

The principle, of which these cases are illustrations, is not to 
be so understood, as though the character thus conveyed were 
the meritorious cause of the relations predicated; — as if the 
believer were justified by the personal righteousness which he 
receives through the power of Christ's Spirit given to him. On 
the contrary, the union, which is constituted by virtue of the 
transmission of the nature, itself conveys a proprietary title in 



318 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. x. 

the moral and legal relations of the head; whilst the efficient 
principle which thus unites, is also fruitful in effects appropriate 
to the nature whence it flows. Thus, the sin of Adam, and the 
righteousness of Christ, are severally imputed to their seed, by- 
virtue of the union, constituted, in the one case, by the prin- 
ciple of natural generation, and in the other, by "the Spirit of 
life in Christ Jesus," the Holy Spirit, — the principle of the 
regeneration. At the same time, the power by which the union 
is in these cases severally wrought, produces likeness to the 
head. "As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy; and 
as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." — 1 Cor. 
xv. 48. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that 
which is born of the Spirit is spirit." — John iii. 6. 

It is objected, that the relation between Christ and his people 
is a moral one ; and, therefore, it must be so between Adam and 
his seed. True; but the relation, and the tie by which it is 
established, are entirely different things. The relation is moral, — 
that of headship in covenant. The tie is substantial ; — in the one 
case, the Holy Spirit, dwelling in and sent forth from Christ, as 
an incorruptible seed, — the power of a new spiritual life, work- 
ing faith; — in the other, the natural seed, the power of a cor- 
rupted nature, working depravity and death. The following pa- 
rallel exhibits the corresponding relations which the Scriptures 
predicate of Adam and Christ. It is not only an unanswerable 
argument on the subject before us, but also a statement in 
epitome of the whole doctrine of the ruin and recovery of man, 
in a form which, if the Scriptures be true, is of itself an over- 
whelming proof of the truth of the system so unfolded, — the 
Calvinistic, the scriptural system of theology. In each of the 
cases here presented, the will of God is the ultimate cause of the 
whole matter. The parallel shows how that will has taken 
effect, unfolding in harmonious perfection and symmetrical pro- 
portion the divine holiness, wisdom, justice and grace. A careful 
inspection must satisfy the impartial reader, that the denial that 
Adam was constituted the representative of the race, by being 
made its father, strikes down a central pillar of the whole system 
of revealed truth. 



sect, v.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 



The Fiest Adam. 
The image of God. (a) 
The covenant of works. 
A transgressor. Condemned. 
A living soul, (c) — a father, — 

the source of natural life. 
Law of natural generation, — 
the corruptible seed.(d) 
Birth: 
The flesh. 
The principle of natural gene- 
ration, the "bond of union. 
Apostate in Adam. 
By the offence of one, judgment 
unto condemnation, (e) 
Many made sinners. 
By nature children of 
wrath. (/) 
Depravity and every sin the 
fruits of nature, ill) 
As is the earthy, such are they 
that are earthy, (i) 
The image of the earthy. 
The carnal mind is enmity 

against God.(j) 
Growing corruption by the 
power of Adam's nature. (I) 
Vessels of wrath fitted for de- 
struction.^) 
Death. 
In Adam all die. (o) 
The second death. 



The Second Adam. 
The express image, (b) 
The everlasting covenant. 
Obedient. Justified. 
A quickening spirit, (c) — a father, 

— the source of divine life. 

Law of the Spirit of life, — the 

incorruptible seed, (d) 

New Birth. 

The Spirit. 

The Spirit, — the incorruptible 

seed, the bond of union. 

Reconciled in Christ. 

By the righteousness of one, the 

free gift unto justification, (e) 

Many made righteous. 
Begotten again unto a lively 
hope.(^) 
Faith and every grace the fruits 
of the Spirit, (h) 
As is the heavenly, such are 
they that are heavenly . (i) 
The image of the heavenly. 
He ' that is born of God loveth 
God.© 
Sanctification by partaking of 
the divine nature, (m) 
Vessels of mercy prepared unto 
glory, (n) 
Sleep. 
In Christ all made alive, (o) 
Eternal life. 



(a) Gen. i. 26. (b) Heb. i. 3. (c) 1 Cor. xv. 45. (d) 1 Pet. i. 23, 1 John iii. 9. 
(e) Rom. v. 18, 19. (/) Eph. ii. 3. (g) 1 Pet. i. 3. (h) Gal. v. 19-23. (*) 1 Cor. 
xv. 48, 49. (/) Rom. viii. 7. (k) 1 John v. 2. (I) Eph. iv. 22. (w) 2 Pet. i. 4. 
(n) Rom. ix. 22, 23. (o) 1 Cor. xv. 22. 



320 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. x. 

If the reader will attempt to modify the scheme here pre- 
sented, and adapt it to the idea that the representative union of 
Adam and his children is formed by a mere positive dispensation, 
he will find that the effect is, not only to destroy the parallel, 
but to mar utterly the proportion and the significance of the 
language employed in the Scriptures, as expressive of the rela- 
tions of his people to Christ. Thus, if instead of " The principle 
of natural generation, the bond of union," — which here stands 
as the ground of the representative relation, — we substitute "A 
positive dispensation with Adam," not only does it obliterate the 
parallel, but destroys the significance and the appropriateness 
of all the figures which cluster around the official functions and 
work of the Holy Spirit. What, then, is the propriety of 
Christ's being called "a quickening spirit," and that in con- 
trast with Adam, the "living soul," the fountain of natural life 
to the race? What, the meaning of the designation of the 
work of grace, as, the "new birth"? of the titles, "children of 
God," — "the seed" of Christ? and of that name which is given 
to the Spirit — "the incorruptible seed," — "the seed that re- 
maineth in" those who are born of God? In regard to these last 
expressions, it may be objected, that in the parable of the sower 
(Matt. xiii. ; Mark iv.) the seed is the word ; and therefore it 
must be so in these places. But the fact of a figure being used 
in a particular sense in a given parable, determines nothing in 
respect to its meaning in other parts of the Scriptures. In the 
parable of the tares, the same word, seed, designates the people 
of God in the bosom of the church. " The good seed are the 
children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the children of the 
wicked one." — Matt. xiii. 38. In the place quoted from 1 Peter 
i. 23, the efficient principle, the seed, and the formal instru- 
mentality, the word, are clearly distinguished from each other, 
by the structure of the sentence, and the change of prepositions : 
— "Born again (oux ex oTzopd^ <fdaprr^ } d)ld dcfddpzou,) not by the 
power of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, (Sid Xoyoo ^covtoz 
6eou,) through the instrumentality of the living word of God." 

In fact, the apostle does not recognise the word of God in the 
figure of the new birth, but introduces it immediately after, (eh. 
ii. 2,) as, "the sincere milk" whereby the new-born are nourished. 



sect, v.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 321 

The parallel language of Paul to the Galatians is conclusive as 
to the interpretation to be given to the words of Peter. Gal. 
iv. 23: — "He that was (ix zr^ ncudioxr}<;,) of the bondwoman, 
was born (xazd adpxa) after the flesh ; but he that was (ix zr^ 
iteudepaz) of the freewoman, was (did r§c i^ayyeUia^,) by, or, 
in fulfilment of, the promise." In the other place, 1 John 
iii. 9, the word translated, seed, is different, (arJppa,) the 
efficient principle of generation; and when it is remembered 
that the Holy Spirit is certainly the principle of the new 
nature and life in the regenerate, — that he proceedeth from 
the Father and the Son, (John xiv. 16, 26; xv. 26); and that, 
although he is undoubtedly the immediate efficient agent in 
the new birth, the regenerate are constantly called, the chil- 
dren of the Father, and of Christ, but never, of the Spirit, — 
the inference would seem to be inevitable, that he is the seed 
here spoken of. Still more certain is this, when we consider 
the power here attributed to the indwelling seed, by which sin 
is impossible. Unquestionably, the efficiency here described 
belongs to the sanctifying Spirit, alone. In short, the indwell- 
ing of the incorruptible seed is distinctly stated as the equiva- 
lent of the new birth : — " For his seed remaineth in him, and he 
cannot sin, because he is born of God." 

We have stated it, as a principle traceable both in the doctrine 
of the ruin and of the redemption of man, that community in a 
propagated nature constitutes an identity, or oneness, between 
the offspring and their head. But we should entirely fail to ex- 
hibit the whole significance of the principle, and its importance, 
did we omit to trace it to its norm, in the persons of the eternal 
Father and his coeternal Son. Eespecting the real and perfect 
unity and distinct personality of the blessed Three, and the 
eternal generation of the Son, we have already spoken. The 
point concerning it which is important to the present subject, is 
the fact that the unity of the Father and Son consists in the 
oneness of the divine essence, which is by generation communi- 
cated from the Father to the Son. That the relation which 
subsists between Christ and his people is designed to illustrate 
and shed forth this divine mystery, we have seen our Saviour to 

21 



322 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. x. 

assert, in his sacerdotal prayer: — "That they all may be one; 
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be 
one in us ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 
And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that 
they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in 
me, that they may be made perfect in one." — John xvii. 21-23. 
This idea runs through the whole of that most wonderful prayer. 
Again, in John xiv. 20: — "At that day ye shall know that I am 
in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." 

The relation of the first Adam to his race is similar to and 
typical of that of the second Adam to his seed; although, in 
this, as in all things else, the glory of the latter far exceeds 
that of the former ; constituting a much nearer resemblance to 
the relation subsisting between the Father and the eternal Son. 
As the oneness of the Father and Son consists in the subsistence 
of both in one undivided essence, communicated through the 
eternal generation; so, Christ and his people are one by virtue 
of their communion in one undivided Spirit, imparted in the 
regeneration, inducing an identity so intimate that "he that is 
joined to the Lord is one Spirit." In a modified resemblance 
to these, is the relation of Adam to his seed. He and they are 
one by virtue of community in a nature which, originally one, 
in Adam, is communicated to his posterity by generation, and is 
possessed by them, not, as in the other case, in common and 
undivided, but distributively and in severalty. And as the 
unity of the adorable Three does not obliterate or even obscure 
the several personality, so neither is there any such effect realized 
in respect to the second Adam, nor to the first. In the latter 
case particularly, the distributive mode of communion in the 
human nature, constitutes a broad line of demarcation, which 
precludes any ground of pretence that such is the effect. "Whilst 
thus all are one in Adam, and justly responsible and condemned 
for the apostasy of the nature which they derive from him, each 
one has a distinct and several person and independent moral 
agency, involving several and personal obligation and responsi- 
bility before God. The immediate design of the Creator, in 
establishing the parental relation, as constituted in Adam, was 



sect, v.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 323 

the introduction of a representative system. The final end of 
the whole dispensation was the unfolding and illustration of the 
inner nature of the Triune God, — that mystery, to the exposi- 
tion of which, of all God's works, our world and race have been 
specially designated. The fact that man's nature, low and base 
as it is, is utterly unworthy to be compared with the glory of 
his Maker, no more precludes the propriety of the illustration, 
thence deduced, than does the inadequacy of the atom, or the 
universe. To reduce the mysteries of the divine subsistence to 
the level of the finite things by which they are revealed, is 
atheism. To refuse to listen to the teachings, because unworthy 
of his majesty, were to plunge into ignorance and infidelity, 
through pretence of reverence for the ineffable God. 

A consideration of the only alternative, will confirm our doc- 
trine, as to the relation of Adam's natural to his federal head- 
a 6. The ai- ship- We assume that he did unquestionably sus- 
temative doc- tain the office of representative for his seed. If he 
trme. occupied such a position, it must have been either by 

virtue of the inscription of the covenant in his nature by the 
creative finger, or by a positive arrangement made with Adam, 
subsequent to his creation. The latter view, however, is in- 
volved in hopeless difficulties, at which we can but briefly 
glance. 

This theory ignores, altogether, the fact which is unquestion- 
able, that the covenant was, in Adam's creation, written on his 
nature, in such a manner as to be conveyed with that nature to 
all his seed. That the law and covenant are inseparably identi- 
fied with each other, in God's dealings with man, the Scriptures 
everywhere testify. That covenant law, the apostle Paul 
declares to be written in the hearts of the Gentile world, in- 
ducing in them efforts after a legal righteousness and legal 
hopes. They "show the work of the law written in their 
hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts 
the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." — Rom. 
ii. 15. That the heathen world find in this inwritten law pro- 
mises, as well as threatenings, that they hope to win God's 
favour on its terms, as well as thereby to escape from its curse, 



324 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. x. 

it would be idle for us to prove. It will scarcely be questioned. 
This law, engraven on man's nature, " as a covenant of works," 
is, by our Confession, made the foundation stone of the whole 
system of Gods dispensations with man.* That these things 
are so, is not, we believe, denied by any, who hold the doctrine 
of the covenant. That their relation to the whole question of 
Adam's representative office is most intimate and important, is 
manifest. And yet, without a reason, and apparently without a 
thought, they are left out of the account by the theory of con- 
stituted headship to which we here object. 

Again, it is assumed as essential to this whole conception, that 
Adam's parental relation to his posterity was one of a purely 
serial nature. His was the first in a series of names ; and, at the 
instant of his creation, prior to the conventional arrangement 
which is imagined, there was nothing in his nature and consti- 
tution implying more than this. In other words, the causative 
relation between him and his seed is either overlooked or denied. 
They were not in him, in any higher or different sense than the 
ward is in his guardian, or the constituent in the legislator. 
Hence, it is assumed that, but for the positive provision, his 
conduct would not have affected us at all; and that the actual 
effects are only such as are appropriate to a relation so consti- 
tuted. His sin is not properly our sin, but only the ground of 
penal visitations upon us. His depravation is not common to us ; 
but we are depraved by a process of mixed penal and sovereign 
dispensations, based upon our constructive relation to his sin. 
In short, to all the purposes of this theory, any other moral in- 
telligence, however naturally unrelated to us, would have been 
as competent to be our federal head, as was Adam; and the con- 
sequences which flow to us would have been precisely the same, 
and would have resulted in the same way. So entirely is the 
natural relation of Adam to us, and the inscription of the cove- 
nant in our common nature, left out of the account. 

In vindication of such views, it is denied that the law of 
generation, that like begets its like, is applicable to the propaga- 

* Confession, chap. xix. \\ 1, 2. See above, p. 287. 



sect, vi.] Adam, the Covenant Head of the Race. 325 

tion of sin, or, in fact, to the dissemination of accidental differ- 
ences at all, or any thing but specific distinctions. But this is 
manifestly a mistake. The law of generation is as clearly 
marked, and its operation as firmly established and demon- 
strated, in the perpetuation of varieties as of species. 
Where was it ever known that the tractable greyhound, or the 
generous Newfoundland dog, was the offspring of the ferocious 
bloodhound, or the cur ? Is there any ambiguity in the demar- 
cation between the fleet barb of Arabia, the London dray-horse, 
and the Shetland pony ? When did it happen that the child of 
Caucasian parents displayed the traits which are distinctive 
of the African or Indian tribes ? Is there any thing indeter- 
minate in the marks which distinguish the Celtic, the Saxon, 
and the Gallic races ? Were the natural principle which these 
cases illustrate, to be violated in any well-defined instance, the 
fact would be as entirely unaccountable, — as utterly at variance 
with the recognised principles of propagation, as would be the 
perpetuation of a hybrid race. It is thus evident that, to a very 
wide extent, it is a characteristic of propagation in the whole 
animal kingdom, and, in fact, in the vegetable world also, that 
traits and features, which are accidental to a species, are often 
transmitted with a certainty as decided as that which perpe- 
tuates the species itself. Nor is this true of physical features 
merely; but, — even in the case of the lower animals, — of those 
which we may be permitted, by way of analogy, to designate as 
moral traits ; as a moment's reflection upon the cases already 
cited will demonstrate. In truth, no fact is more familiar to 
observation, nor more clearly marked in the constitution of man, 
than the tendency to perpetuate the distinctive intellectual and 
moral characteristics of parents in their children. What is the 
meaning of this trait which was enstamped on man's constitu- 
tion by Him who does nothing in vain, — if its principal design 
and most important result was not the propagation of Adam's 
moral nature ; whether confirmed in holiness, as the result might 
have been, or apostate and depraved, as is the lamentable case ? 
Are not the phenomena in the inferior creation to which we have 
alluded, the perpetuation of particular family and race charac- 



326 The Elohun Revealed, [chap. x. 

teristics, and the propagation of Adam's depraved nature, all 
particulars of one general law, that every creature brings forth 
after its kind? In fact, there seems to be a peculiar signifi- 
cance in the manner in which, in the first chapter of Genesis, as 
in the process of the creation we ascend the scale of being, we are 
at each step met by the reiterated announcement of this prin- 
ciple, established in every instance as the law of propagation. 
" The fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind." " Every living crea- 
ture that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after 
their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind." "Cattle, and 
creeping thing, and beast of the earth, after his kind." "And 
God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply." If it be true, 
that the Scriptures are designed to teach, not natural science, 
but theology, we ask, what is the meaning of this reiterated 
statement of a fact, which stands so conspicuous on the whole 
face of living nature, that it certainly required no such means 
to make it known ? Is it not designed to point to that signal 
feature in man's nature, upon which the entire Scriptures pre- 
dicate all the importance of their revelations, both respecting 
the ruin and recovery of man ? How significant, too, the terms 
in which the man, as yet alone, is blessed by his Maker : — " Be 
fruitful, and multiply;" — multiply, not by the production of others 
like him, merely, but by their multiplication from his person, 
— first verified by the separation of the woman from his side; 
and then by the propagation, from the substance of the twain, 
of the multitudes destined to people and subdue the earth. 

To all this, when we add the fact, that the Scriptures empha- 
tically point to the phenomenon of propagation, to account for 
the depravity of the human race, we are shut up to one conclu- 
sion. Of our ancestor Seth we are told, that "Adam begat a 
son in his own likeness, after his image." — Gen. v. 3. The pa- 
triarchs, in the book of Job, are unanimous on the subject. (Job 
xiv. 1, 4; xv. 14; xxv. 4.) They declare man corrupt, because 
he is propagated from a corrupted source. To this David traces 
his crimes. (Psalm li. 5.) The same doctrine is attested by 
Christ. (John iii. 6.) And the apostle Paul asserts it in terms as 
emphatic. (1 Cor. xv. 48, 49.) The alternative is, to deny the 



sect, vi.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 327 

truth of all these statements, which might be indefinitely multi- 
plied, — to deny, in other words, that "original sin is conveyed 
from our first parents unto their posterity by natural genera- 
tion,"* — to admit our doctrine, — or, to take refuge in the as- 
sumption, that after Adam's creation, upon occasion of the 
positive agreement supposed, his nature was amended by the 
creative hand, so as to secure the propagation of depravity from 
him by generation, in case of his apostasy. Even then, the only 
possible refuge of this theory is in the Placsean doctrine of me- 
diate imputation, or something else as inconsistent with the 
scriptural doctrine. Depravity has its foundation, beyond ques- 
tion, in the natural relation which subsists between us and Adam, 
as he was in covenant with God, — the testimonies of the Scrip- 
tures above cited being admitted. And, — whether the sugges- 
tion of a post-creative modification of Adam's nature be admitted, 
or depravity be allowed to flow to his seed by virtue of his ori- 
ginal constitution, — yet depravity thence resulting must, both 
in the order of nature, and in fact, antedate airy imputation of 
his sin, which may be supposed to result from a post-natural con- 
vention with Adam. This result is the more obvious, as, accord- 
ing to this theory, it is denied, that Adam's sin is imputed to us, 
as really ours, at all; but we are only liable to its punishment; 
and that, not fully, as by itself, but only as associated with our 
actual depravity and sins. Thus original sin, as sin, is reduced 
to native depravity alone. 

But these are not the only difficulties which encumber the 
view here considered. It is a question which admits of 
1 7. Principle no satisfactory answer, — hoAV, by such an arrange- 
of representee- ment, Adam could, in fact, be constituted our re- 
tlon ' presentative. This question is usually met by 

reference to the customs of society, and the principles of repre- 
sentation, as practised in civil affairs. A single individual re- 
presents a county in the legislature, a state in congress, or, 
a nation at foreign courts. An attorney, or a commercial agent, 
represents an individual, a firm, or a larger company, by whom 

* Larger Catechism, Qu. 26. 



328 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. x. 

he is employed. The guardian, for many purposes, represents 
his ward. In many of these cases, it is said that the constituent 
or client is responsible for the acts of a representative whom he 
never appointed, and in whose action he was not a consenting 
party. Again, it is said that the will of the parties to a cove- 
nant determines the amplitude of its range; — that by positive 
agreement God chose Adam to act as the representative of the 
race, and Adam agreed to the choice ; and that, upon the prin- 
ciples which govern covenants, the arrangement thus entered 
into binds the posterity of Adam. But, if this doctrine be cor- 
rect, then may two petty chieftains in the heart of Africa enter 
into mutual covenants by which they shall severally undertake 
for and bind, in all coming time, Great Britain and the United 
States, in any such obligations as the self-constituted representa- 
tives may see fit to impose ! And the whole transaction would 
be of binding force ! So far, however, is such a principle from 
being countenanced by any example whatever, that in every in- 
stance usually cited in its support, the rule by which is determined 
the extent of the constituency represented, is, — not the will of the 
representative, with or without the concurrence of the opposite 
party, — but the number concurring in his appointment. So it 
is in the cases of political representation referred to. So it is in 
mercantile transactions. The agent acts for those, and those 
only, by whom he was commissioned. 

All the cases usually cited, in illustration of the doctrine of 
representation, are reducible to two classes. In the first the 
representative derives his commission from those for whom he 
acts ; and they define the extent of his authority in the premises. 
Such are the relations of the attorney to his client, — of the 
commercial agent to the houses by whom he is employed, — and 
of the ambassador to his sovereign. The second class differs 
from this, only by reason of the fact, that the apparent is not 
the real constituent. Thus, the guardian, although he is some- 
times looked upon as the representative of his ward, is really 
the representative of the state, by whom he is appointed; and 
on whose behalf he exercises the functions of government and 
guardianship. So it is with the political representative. My 



sect, vii.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 329 

duty of obedience to the laws, is not because my personal repre- 
sentative concurred in their enactment; but because they were 
passed by a body exercising "the power" which God has be- 
stowed upon the state. If the former were the principle, it 
would follow, that each individual would be absolved from obli- 
gation, in every case in which his representative had either been 
absent, or refused his consent to the enactment; and he who 
should decline to vote for any legislator would be free from all 
duty of obedience. The various institutions which pertain to 
the political and social organizations of society afford no example, 
from whence may be deduced the doctrine that it belongs to the 
parties to a covenant, to determine how many and whom they 
will represent. It is only the statement of a truism, to say that 
the parties to a covenant, when met, can act for none except 
those on whose behalf they hold commission. When, in the po- 
sitive transaction which is supposed to have taken place, God 
and Adam met, the position of the Creator was, by supposition, 
that of a voluntary waiver of sovereignty, and assumption of the 
attitude and relations of a covenanting party. In consistency 
with the ground taken, nothing may be predicated of his actions, 
but what is in accordance with the attitude thus assumed. 
When Adam entered into the convention, either he already held 
commission to act on behalf of his posterity, or he did not. If 
he did, or even if he had a right to enter into a conventional 
agreement to act for them, that is to say that he was by nature 
their representative ; for no higher exercise of vicarious author- 
ity can be imagined than that of appointing a representative for 
the race ; and that, too, where the issues were of no less moment 
than eternal life and death. If Adam had not already commis- 
sion, how did he acquire it? — Was it by an act of spontaneous 
assumption by him? or, by commission from the other party in 
the treaty? 

Nor will it relieve the difficulties of the case, to appeal to the 
divine sovereignty, — to assert that God was competent, by the 
mere exercise of his pleasure, to make Adam our representative, 
although natively he was not so. We might show, that, by this 
supposition, the whole dispensation i \ presented in the light of 



330 The Elolihn Revealed. [chap. x. 

mere terrible majesty and power, clothed in the form of a 
covenant with Adam, but having toward him no grace, and being 
to his offspring no covenant. But it is unnecessary to enter 
into such an argument. The very supposition here suggested 
is in itself a contradiction in terms. It is denied that we were 
natively in Adam, as a covenant head; and asserted that, by a 
sovereign act, which exerted no direct influence, either creative 
or modifying, — an act simply decretive or judicial, — we were 
instated in him. And the challenge may, perhaps, be made, 
whether any one will deny the infinite power of God. The matter 
involved, however, is not one of either sovereignty or power, 
but of truth. The theory, under another name, is the very same 
which Edwards vindicates, in his doctrine of identity. It is, — 
that the divine power is such that it can "make truth;" — that, 
although we were not really one with Adam, and God did not 
modify in the least the real state of the case, intrinsically, — yet 
can he, and did he, make us one with him. Thus does this 
invention attribute to God the office of calling into being a 
spectre so flimsy, that the very parties who assert its existence, 
profess to see through it, and declare it false; and, at the same 
time, so powerful as to drag down the entire race of man in 
utter ruin. After all the influence of the sovereign power, 
which is supposed to have made us one with Adam, it is at last 
denied that we are any more really one with him than we were 
before. In fact, this theory constitutes the fundamental element 
in a system of feigned issues and fictitious constructions, attri- 
buted to God; — a system which may be appropriate to human 
tribunals, but will find no place at the bar of truth. He who 
supposes that God's dealings with his creatures are, in any case 
or manner, controlled by relations, or imagined relations, not in 
accordance with the intrinsic state of the case, as it is, in every 
respect, — not only denies that the judgments of God are accord- 
ing to truth, but involves himself in the further conclusion that 
the Almighty is without a moral nature at all. For, to imagine 
that he can look upon one as guilty, in a matter in which he is 
not guilty, or liable to be punished as a sinner, when in fact he 
is not a sinner, is to assume, that holiness is no more in harmony 



sect, vii.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 331 

with God's nature than sin, — truth no more pleasing to him than 
a lie. 

But, notwithstanding all the difficulties thus presented, were 
the theory in question taught in the Scriptures, we should be 
bound to lay our hands on our mouths, and accept it with un- 
questioning faith, since we know that, however incomprehensible, 
or, to our dark understandings, seemingly contradictory, God's 
word is " true from the beginning."-— Ps. cxix. 160. But the most 
fatal objection to the whole scheme occurs in the fact, that 
whilst the Scriptures seem, in the plainest terms, to teach a very 
different doctrine, — a headship real, native and effectual to all 
the ends involved, — there is not a passage which intimates the 
occurrence of such an investiture as is here supposed ; — an in- 
vestiture by positive post-creative agreement or decree. They 
testify, indeed, abundantly to the fact that God did enter into 
covenant with Adam; and that, in all the provisions, his seed 
were included in him. But, in proportion to the abundance of 
evidence on these points, is the significance of the fact, that, in 
it all, we fail to find a hint of such a positive provision, as is 
asserted to have taken place. We have neither record of Adam's 
official appointment, nor of his acceptance of the trust. 

In contrast with the entire silence of the Scriptures on this 
point, let the reader observe, the remarkable manner in which 
the Holy Spirit recurs, again and again, to the generative con- 
stitution of Adam. It is foreshadowed in the vegetation which 
carpeted and adorned the earth, (Gen. i. 11, 12,) and in the 
living creatures with which it was filled, (Gen. i. 22;) in regard 
to whom the record of a fact of this kind, — a fact which is 
patent on the face of nature, to the most casual observer; 
although elsewhere, so far as we know, unparalleled in the 
universe, — is entirely unaccountable; unless designed to bear 
upon the similar nature of man, and the great doctrines which 
are related to it. It is proclaimed of man, in the primary act 
of his creation. (Gen. i. 27, 28.) It is signalized by the tem- 
porary solitude of Adam, and the subsequent formation of his 
wife, "bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh." (Gen. ii. 18-24.) 
It is again re-announced as the fundamental fact, in the " Book 



332 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. x. 

of the Generations of Man," (Gen. v. 1-3,)— the fact which lies 
at the basis of the whole dark history of our race, of which the 
fifth chapter of Genesis is the beginning. Is it possible, in the 
presence of these facts, to avoid the conclusion that the genera- 
tive nature of Adam filled, in the mind of the Holy Spirit, a 
place in the doctrines of the Bible, proportioned to the emphasis 
thus given to it on the front of the record ? All this, with the 
silence maintained respecting such a positive transaction as is 
supposed, seems plainly to imply, that, by virtue of the inscrip- 
tion of the covenant in his generative nature, Adam's posterity 
were, in him, parties to it. He was therefore dealt with by God, 
as in all things, natively and of course, the head and repre- 
sentative of the race; and this for the reason that his seed were 
really and in fact in him. 

It may be well, before leaving the subject, to say a word as 
to the relations which Eve sustained to the covenant and the 
I 8. Eve part representation of the race. The covenant was made 
of the repre- with Adam, in his creation ; and consequently be- 

sentativehead. fore Eve ^ formed Qut of hig person< She Was, 

therefore, comprehended originally in him. "When she was taken 
out of his side, she was for herself at once a party to the cove- 
nant. But not only was she a distinct person, endowed with 
individual prerogatives and responsibilities ; she was also bone 
of Adam's bone, and flesh of his flesh. Conjointly with him, she 
was the "Adam," of whom it had been said, "Let them have 
dominion" by multiplying and replenishing the earth. Neither 
Adam nor Eve separately represented the race; but both con- 
jointly, as from both that race was to flow. This joint repre- 
sentation is evident, from the fact that each incurred peculiar 
elements of the curse, and that these have descended in their 
distinctive form to their seed. God recognised in Eve a repre- 
sentative position when he said to her, " I will greatly multiply 
thy sorrow and thy conception : in sorrow thou shalt bring forth 
children ; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall 
rule over thee," as clearly and unequivocally as he did in Adam, 
when he pronounced upon him the corresponding curse. Paul 
certainly holds the woman to have been a representative head, 



sect, vii.] Adam the Covenant Head of the Race. 333 

when he tells Timothy, "I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to 
usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam 
was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but 
the woman being deceived was in the transgression." — 1 Tim. ii. 
12-14. The same conclusion is inevitably involved in the fact 
that Christ was promised distinctively as the woman's Seed, to 
destroy her enemy and redeem her children. The relation 
which the Redeemer sustained to the woman's sin is doubly sig- 
nalized : — in the primeval promise, and in his birth of a virgin 
mother. If he was "made of a woman, made under the law, 
to redeem them that were under the law," the conclusion is un- 
avoidable, that they who were under the curse of the law, were 
so as being responsible for the woman's sin, as well as for that 
into which she seduced her husband. 

That this is the doctrine of the whole body of the confessions — 
as well as of the standard writers — of the Eeformed church, 
is certain. Particularly is this unquestionable in respect 
to the doctrinal formularies of the Westminster Assembly, as 
a glance at them will demonstrate.* How perfectly it corre- 
sponds with the view which we take as to the connection be- 
tween Adam's parental and federal relations, and how incon- 
gruous to that of constructive headship which we have here 
examined, will be apparent to the reader. The doctrine is 
therefore repudiated by those who embrace the constructive 
system. Upon that theory, it is held that if Eve had sinned 
alone, she alone would have perished, and the race would have 
remained uninjured ; whilst if Adam alone had sinned, she would 
have survived, but he and his seed had perished. But unless 
the whole idea of propagation is a mere dream, and the exist- 
ence of a certain number and set of persons is supposed to have 
been so predestined as to be accomplished irrespective of in- 
strumentality, it remains that the sin of either individual alone 
would have precluded the existence of our race; since it must 
have involved the separation of the pair, — as light can have no 

* Confession, ch. vi. Larger Catechism, Qu. 26. Brief Sum of Christian Doc- 
trine, Head i. §g 2, 3. 



334 The Eloliim Revealed. chap. x. 

fellowship with darkness. The Creator might have realized the 
fancy of Eve as represented by the poet, when hesitating 
whether to make her husband participant in her fatal luxury : — 

" To Adam in what sort 
Shall I appear ? Shall I to him make known 
As yet my change, and give him to partake 
Full happiness with me ? Or rather not, 
But keep the odds of knowledge in my power 
Without co-partner? So to add what wants 
In female sex, the more to draw his love, 
And render me more equal, and perhaps — 
A thing not undesirable — sometime 
Superior ; for, inferior, who is free ? 
This may be well ; but what if God have seen, 
And death ensue ? Then I shall be no more ; 
And Adam, wedded to another Eve, 
Shall live, with her enjoying; I extinct." — Paradise Lost, Book ix. 

But the offspring of " another Eve" had not been the present 
population of the earth. " In the day that God created man, in 
the likeness of God made he him ; male and female created he 
them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam." — Gen. v. 
1, 2. The fall of Eve alone was not the apostasy of the race ; 
nor would have been that of her husband. It was they both to 
whose charge was intrusted the jewel of man's integrity. Thus 
was a double barrier set around it, and the keys placed in two 
several hands, without whose joint concurrence the ruin could 
not be wrought. 



CHAPTEE XL 

extent op adam's parental relation — origin of the 

SOUL. 

"Quidam non melius posse expediri difficultatem [de propagatione peccati] 
arbitrati sunt, quam per animse traducem, quam non pauci ex veteribus cre- 
diderunt, et ipse Augustinus non semel eo perpendere videtur. Nee dubium 
est quinhac ratione omnis sublata videretur difficultas." — Turrettini Instit. 
Locus IX. Qilest. xii. \ 6. 

In the doctrine of the Eeformed churches, respecting original 
sin ; our relation to Adam, as the federal head of the race, is 
a 1. History constantly based upon his causative relation to us. 
of the doc- His posterity were in him as their cause, and, 
tnne ' therefore, contemplated as one with him in all God's 

dealings with him. But, although the Eeformed authorities 
are unanimous on this point, some of those writers have incau- 
tiously assumed a position respecting the origin of the soul, 
which is irreconcilable with the doctrine thus set forth. The 
consequence has been, that the whole subject is obscured with sub- 
tleties borrowed from the scholastic philosophy, which have been 
the fruitful cause of error, and of apostasy from the scriptural 
doctrine of original sin. In what sense, and how far, we are 
the children of Adam, is a question which at first glance might 
seem to admit of but one answer. We venture to express the 
conviction that were the inquiry proposed to the great body of 
God's people, to those who have no other light than that of unper- 
verted reason and the word of God, the unanimous reply would 
be, that the child is wholly the offspring of its parents, — that we 
are, in the entireness of our being, the children of Adam. And 
this we believe to be the teaching of the Scriptures, clearly and 
unequivocally expressed, and the testimony of sound philosophy 

335 



336 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

when intelligently examined. Yet human ingenuity has in- 
vented a number of theories on the subject, each involving an 
entirely different account of our relation to Adam's sin. 

Plato supposed all human souls to have had a pre-existence, 
dwelling in some glorious and suitable mansion, — perhaps among 
the stars, — till, growing weary of heavenly and falling in love with 
earthly things, they were, by way of punishment, cast down to earth 
and imprisoned in bodies. A slight modification of this notion was 
espoused by Origen. " He set this theory of the pre-existence of 
souls in opposition to creationism, which supposed individual souls 
to arise from the immediate act of creation on the part of God ; 
for this theory appeared to him irreconcilable with the love and 
justice of God, which maintains itself equally toward all his 
creatures, — and also in opposition to the traducianism of Tertul- 
lian, for his theory appeared to him too sensuous. .Thus, as he, 
in order to be able to maintain, his theory of a creation which 
preceded this temporal world, without prejudice to the church 
doctrine, appealed to the circumstance that the church doctrine 
defined nothing concerning that point, so also did he appeal to 
the same circumstance in regard to his own peculiar speculative 
theory of the origin of souls. In the doctrine, however, of a cor- 
ruption and guilt that cleaved to human nature from the begin- 
ning, he might, — exactly as the North African church teachers 
express themselves, — he might speak of a mystery of the birth, ac- 
cording to which, every one who comes into the world needs puri- 
fication, and he might quote, in favour of this view, the passages 
of the Bible which were quoted by others in favour of the doctrine 
of original sin. But he felt himself obliged to deduce this condi- 
tion of human nature from another source, — namely, from the 
proper guilt of every individual fallen heavenly spirit, contracted 
in a former state of existence; and hence, according to the theory 
of Origen, this corruption could not be alike in all, but its degree 
would depend on the degree of the former guiltiness. Although 
he accounted Adam as an historical personage, yet he could be 
nothing else in his view than the first incarnate soul that sunk 
down from the heavenly state of existence ; he must have looked 
upon the history of Paradise, like the Gnostics, as being symbolical, 



sect, i.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 337 

so that it was to him the symbol of a higher spiritual world, 
and Adam was to him at the same time the type of all man- 
kind, of all fallen souls."* 

This theory has lately had a transient notoriety, through the 
advocacy of Dr. Edward Beecher in the "Conflict of Ages." 
The few by whom the fancy has been embraced, have not pre- 
tended to derive any countenance for it from the word of God. 
Its adoption by Origen was merely one example of a tendency 
which prevailed among the Christian teachers of that age, to 
incorporate the philosophy of heathenism with the doctrines of 
the Bible, — a tendency which filled the church with malignant 
heresies. The revival in our own time of so absurd and effete 
a figment of pagan philosophy, constitutes avowedly the last 
resort in a desperate struggle to escape from the scriptural doc- 
trine of original sin. We shall need no apology for leaving, 
without argument, a fancy which has not found a voice to second 
its resurrectionist of the present generation; and which is, upon 
its face, both irrational and unscriptural. 

Another theory, which has some points of striking similarity 
with this, is, that all souls were created at the beginning of the 
world, together with the angels, and the soul of Adam ; and that 
they are kept in an unconscious state, until the bodies are ready 
which they are destined to inhabit. Orthodox writers, who 
espouse this opinion, hold that the souls thus united to human 
bodies, are, at the instant of the union, as a penal consequence 
of Adam's sin, infected with moral corruption, and involved in 
the penalty of eternal death. This theory is thus stated by the 
late venerated Dr. Ashbel Green : — 

"Nothing that I have seen on the subject [of the transmission 
of a corrupt nature from Adam] — and much has been written 
on it — has appeared to me so pertinent as the following remarks 
of Dr. Witherspoon ; and I only regret that he has not given 
more expansion to the few important and judicious observations 
which I shall now repeat. He says, 'As to the transmission 
of original sin, the question is, to-be-sure, difficult; and we 

* Neander's Church History, Sec. V. \ 3, Phila., 18.43, p. 392. 

22 



338 The Eloldm Bevealed. [chap. xi. 

ought to be reserved upon the subject. St. Augustine said, it 
was of more consequence to know how we are delivered from 
sin by Christ, than how we derive it from Adam. Yet we shall 
say a few words on this topic. It seems to be agreed by the 
greatest part, that the soul is not derived from our parents, by 
natural generation; and yet it seems not reasonable to suppose 
that the soul is created impure. Therefore it should follow, that 
a general corruption is communicated by the body; and that 
there is so close a union between the soul and body, that the 
impressions conveyed to us through the bodily organs, do tend 
to attach the affections of the soul to things earthly and sensible. 
If it should be said that the soul, on this supposition, must be 
united to the body as an act of punishment or severity ; I would 
answer, that the soul is united to the body as an act of govern- 
ment, by which the Creator decreed that men should be pro- 
pagated by way of natural generation. And many have supposed 
that the souls of all men that ever shall be, were created at the 
beginning of the world, and gradually came to the exercise of 
their powers as the bodies came into existence to which they 
belong.' Agreeing, as I do fully, with what is here stated, I 
shall do nothing more than enlarge a little on the ideas suggested 
in the quotation. . . . Although the Scripture does not tell us 
how the depravity of man is transmitted from parents to their 
offspring, it says enough, I apprehend, to show, that the soul is 
not derived from the parents, like the body, — that the soul is not 
created impure. ... On the whole, if we must speculate and 
form a theory on this subject, the safest and most rational is to 
suppose that all souls were created at the beginning of the world ; 
that they remain in a quiescent state, till the bodies which they 
are to inhabit are formed ; that on union with these bodies, they 
receive all their original impressions, by means of the external 
senses; that the whole system of the bodily appetites and pro- 
pensities, with the fancy or imagination, which is closely con- 
nected with them, having become irregular, excessive and per- 
verted by the fall, do unavoidably corrupt the soul, and enslave 
it to sin. This appears to me a safe theory, and far more 
rational than either the system of the materialists, or that 



sect, i.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 339 

which, supposes the unceasing creation of souls. So far as it 
relates to the manner in which the soul is corrupted by the 
body, it seems to me to coincide with the numerous expressions 
of St. Paul — perhaps to be countenanced by those expressions — 
in which a carnal or fleshly mind is put for human depravity. 
By this apostle, the whole embodied principles of sin are empha- 
tically denominated, the flesh : — ' The flesh lusteth against the 
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary 
the one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye 
would.' For some reason or other, the flesh is here represented 
as the source and seat of sin."* 

This theory is essentially the same with that which Leibnitz 
propounds, in his Theodicaeae, as a medium between the idea of suc- 
cessive creations of souls, and that of traduction : — "Quin immo 
medium quendam indicavi modum inter creationem omnimodam, 
et praeexistentiam perfectam, arbitratus congrue dici posse quod 
anima praeexistens in seminibus, ab initio non fuerit, nisi sen- 
sitiva; sed deinde ad superiorem rationis gradum elevata, post- 
quam homo ille, cujus futura erat anima, conceptus fuisset, 
quodque corpus organicum,f huic animae semper ab initio 
copulatum, post multas denique mutationes, determinatum 
fuerit ad formandum corpus humanum. Judicavi etiam hanc 
animae sensativae elevationem (quae ipsam promovet ad gradum 
essentialem magis sublimem, hoc est, ad rationem) extraordi- 
nariae Dei operationi adscribi posse. Juverit tamen addere, 
quod mallem hominis perinde, atque aliorum animalium, gene- 
rationem sine miraculo statuere : quod ipsum utcunque explicari 
poterit, si concipias, e magno illo animarum et animalium, vel 
saltern corporum organicorum, vitam habentium, et in seminibus 
latentium, numero solas animas, naturae animae destinatas, ra- 
tionem involvere, suo tempore proditurum, et corpora organica 
sola esse praeformata atque praedisposita ad suscipiendam ali- 
quando formam humanam, dum interim animalcula, sive viventia 

* Green's Lectures on the Catechism, Board of Pub., vol. i. p. 267. 

f Leibnitz held all created spirits to be inseparably invested with subtle 
bodies, which he calls corpora organica. See his Correspondence with Clarke, 
p. 221. 



340 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

seminalia, in quibus nihil ejnsmodi prsestabilitum est, a prior ibus 
illis essentialiter discrepant, et in genere inferiore sunt consti- 
tuta. Hasc productio tradux quidam erit; sed paullo tracta- 
bilior, quam qui vulgo ponitur, non animaa ex anima, sed animati 
ex animato, ac frequentia novoe creationis miracula evitans 
quibus anima noviter creata ac pura in corpus illam corrup- 
turum, immitteretur."* 

Others, who hold the souls to be products of God's immediate 
creative power, suppose them to be made from time to time, when 
the bodies are ready to receive them. 

Among those who deny immediate creation, some have sup- 
posed the soul of the child to be derived by subdivision and 
separation from that of the parent. Upon this view, the soul 
of each one of the human race was embodied in Adam, as part 
and parcel of his soul; and that, not seminally or potentially, 
but actually, and in esse. It would hence result, that Adam was 
literally the person of all men ; and, each individual of the race 
being thus part of his person, his sins — not the first only, but 
all that he committed, prior to their several genesis from him — 
were the sins of his posterity, in the same sense in which they 
were his. Not only so; but, by parity of reasoning, each indi- 
vidual of the race, in addition, bears in like manner the responsi- 
bility and is implicated in the guilt of the sins committed by 
each and all of his ancestors, back to the first, the universal 
man. 

Eejecting all these theories, as well as every other which 
attempts to explain the precise manner in which the phenomenon 
of propagation takes place, — whether by appeal to the illustra- 
tion of lux ex lumine, or in whatever other way, — we take the 
position, that the entire man proceeds by generation from the 
parents. We do not say — we do not mean — that the soul is 
generated by the soul, or the body by the body. But man, in 
his "soul, body and spirit," is a unit, composed of diverse 
elements, yet having but one personality, in which the soul is 
the element of universal efficiency. Of that personality, efficient 

* Leibnitii Tentamina Theodicseae, Pars Tertia, § 397. 



sect, i.] Extent of Adam's Parental Relation. 341 

thus, it is that we predicate generation ; and, according to the 
maxim that like begets like, we hold the child, in its entire 
nature, to be the offspring of the parents. The entire race of 
man was in our first parents, not individually and personally, 
but natively and seminally, as the plant is in the seed. "When 
Adam was created, among the powers which constituted his 
nature, was that of generation. His substance was made to be 
an efficient cause, of which his posterity, taken in their whole 
being, physical and spiritual, are the normal and necessary 
effect. Thus, in Adam and Eve, the human race had not a 
potential existence, merely ; but God, in creating the first pair, 
put into efficient operation the sufficient and entire cause of the 
existence of their seed. If we may so speak, theirs was not a 
nature capable merely of propagation, it was propagative ; — by 
the very constitution of their being, as well as by the command 
and blessing of their Maker, they were destined to multiply and 
fill the earth. 

This doctrine, of the generation of the entire man from the 
parents, has commanded the suffrages of many of the ablest and 
best of the orthodox divines, in every age of the church. Early 
promulgated by Tertullian and others of the fathers, and 
strongly countenanced by Augustine, it was espoused, at the 
Reformation, by the greater part of the Lutheran divines, and 
many of the Reformed. On the contrary, it has been de- 
nounced, with unanimous hostility, by Pelagians, Socinians, and 
every class of opposers of the doctrine of original sin. 

In the present discussion, we shall first examine the principal 
objections which are usually urged. These being obviated, our 
3 2. Arqu- readers will be prepared to attend without prejudice 
meats against to the affirmative evidence which will then be pre- 
propagatwn. se nted. Two or three brief citations from opposing 
writers will exhibit, in unexceptionable form, the strength of 
the argument against our doctrine. Our first quotation is from 
Robert Baronius, an eminent metaphysician of the seventeenth 
century, Professor of Divinity in Marischal College, Aberdeen, 
Scotland : — 

"Various arguments are urged, both by philosophers and 



342 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xi. 

divines, to demonstrate souls to be created immediately by God, 
and not educed from the power of matter. The first is this : — 
If the soul is generable, it will be corruptible ; but the latter is 
absurd; therefore also the former. The reason of the major is 
this : — That form* which so depends upon matter, that it may 
be produced by the occurrence of a material cause, in generation, 
will thus also be so dependent on matter, that if it be separated 
from the matter which conferred and continued its existence, it 
of necessity must perish. . . . Philosophers and theologians, when 
they divide substances into eternal and perishable, do not mean 
any substance to be therefore eternal, because it is independent 
of God's sustaining power ; but because they cannot be destroyed 
by any action of any creature. But, in this way, not only the 
angels and the heavens, but the rational soul, may be called 
incorruptible. Further, they who respond thus [that the soul 
is eternal merely by the conservation of God] cannot deny the 
human soul to be such that no physical or material action can 
destroy it ; whence I infer it impossible to produce it by any 
physical or material action. For what is the reason that by no 
physical or material agency can it be destroyed? Is it not 
because it is a spiritual substance ? But, for the same reason, 
it can be produced by no material power ; and that, because it 
is repugnant to a spiritual nature to be produced by any 
material or physical action. But generation is a physical and 
material action, both because it occurs in matter, and because 
it is by a material force, to wit, the seminal power. 

"The second reason against this sentiment is this: — It is the 
will of God that souls should subsist after death, separate from 
the body; but the spirits of the beasts to perish with the bodies. 



* " Aristotle, and the schools after him, called that a, form which is the prin- 
ciple of action, and in which is involved that which is acted. This internal 
principle is substantial or primitive, which is called a soul, when it energizes 
an organic body ; or accidental, which is called quality. The same philosopher 
gave the soul the generic name of force. A permanent and enduring force is 
nothing else than the form, whether substantial or accidental ; a substantial 
form, the soul, for example, is altogether permanent, as I suppose ; and an 
accidental form only remains for a time." — Leibnitii Tent. Theod. \ 87. 



sect, il] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 343 

Therefore he has given the rational soul a nature which is inde- 
pendent of physical matter, that by reason of its nature it may 
be able to exist separate from the material body. Whence I 
infer the soul, as to its nature, to be independent of the material 
body. . . . But if matter concurs to giving it existence, the soul as 
to its existence (quoad suum esse), must depend upon matter. 

" Third. No active force can operate beyond its own genus. 
But the thinking soul surpasses the whole genus of physical 
nature, since it is a spiritual substance. Therefore no corporeal 
force can avail to the production of the soul. But every exer- 
tion of the seminal faculty is from a corporeal force. Therefore 
it is impossible that the thinking soul should be produced by 
that force; for thus an agent might produce an effect which in 
the scale of nature is far more excellent and perfect than itself."* 

Peter Molinaeus, in his work in defence of the Synod of Dort, 
presents the following array of arguments : — "Statuimus animam 
rationalem infundi in embryonem, non quidem ftupadeu ii:ecacivo.i 7 
ut vult Aristoteles, 1. 2, De G-eneratione Animalium, cap. 3. 
Sed putamus a Deo in ipso fcetu et humani corporis rudimento 
formari, ducti auctoritate Scriptural. . . . Sed et Verbo Dei ratio 
ipsa suffragatur. 1. Anima enim quad est aliquid supra natu- 
ram, non potest lege communi cum cseteris rebus naturalibus 
generari. 2. Nee quod est immateriale potest educi de potentia 
materia^. 3. Ac omnino si anima non generaretur nisi per 
corpus, non posset existere extra corpus, nee per se sola subsis- 
tere. 4. Turn qui volunt animam traduci per semen sese cogunt 
in angustias, quibus impossibile est se expediant. Nam cur 
anima matris non traducetur quoque in filium? Aut si anima 
filii ab anima tarn matris quam patris traducitur, necesse erit ut 
duse animse in unam coalescant et misceantur. 5. Quid autem net 
tot seminibus irritis ? . . . An totidem animaB humanse intercidunt, 
aut in utero suffocabantur ? An solas permanebunt extra mate- 
riam; cum certum sit eas ad numerum hominum non pertinere? 
6. Turn necesse est vel totam animam patris traduci, et sic pater 
fiet exanimis; vel portionem animam, et sic anima erit divisibilis. 

* Rob. Baronii Metaphysica Generalis, Cantab. 1685, p. 222. 



344 The Elolrim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

7. Nee vero potest anima tota transmitti, veluti cum lumen ac- 
cenditur de lumine; nam talis propagatio sit transmutatione ad- 
mota3 materia?; et sic materia admota anima? generanti in animam 
verteretur. 8. Quod si vera est definitio anima? ab Aristotele po- 
sita lib. 2. De Anima, c. 1, et passim recepta, qua? definit animam 
esse, — ' Primum actum corporis naturalis organici, vitam habentis 
in potentia,' — non video quomodo anima rationalis possit infor- 
mare semen, in quo nulla sunt organa."* 

Turrettin says, "We prove the creation of souls: — 1. By 
the law of creation; — 2. By the testimony of Scripture; — 3. By 
reason. From the law of creation, because our souls must have 
the same origin with Adam's, not only since we must bear his 
image, 1 Cor. xv. 47, 48, but also because his creation, as of the 
first one of the species, is an example of the creation of all men ; 
as the marriage of the first parents was an example to those that 
followed. But the soul of Adam was immediately created by 
God, when he breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, 
Gen. ii. 7, that it might be evident that his soul was not educed 
from the power of matter; but that it came extrinsically, 
through creation, and was infused into his body by the breath 
of God. Nor may it be objected, that the argument will not 
hold from Adam to us, since the same thing may be said re- 
specting the origin of the body; which cannot be, since our 
bodies are generated, but Adam's created of the dust of the 
ground : — for although there is a disparity with respect to the 
efficient cause, on account of the difference of the subjects, be- 
cause, as the body is elementary and material, it may be produced 
by generation, but the soul, as being immaterial and simple, 
cannot arise otherwise than from the creative power of God, — 
yet in respect to the material cause, a comparison may rightly 
be made. For as the soul of Adam was created of nothing, so 
also the souls of his posterity ; and as his body was formed from 
the dust of the ground, so also our bodies are formed from seed, 



* Anatome Arminiarrismi ; seu Eneucleatio Controversiarum quae in Belgio 
agitantur. . . . Authore Petro Molingeo, pastor ecclesiae Parisiensis, Lugduni 
Batavorum, clolocxxi. pp. 49, 50. 



\ 



sect, ii.] Extent of Adam's Parental Relation. 345 

which is earthly and material. Therefore, although the mode 
of action was peculiar in respect to Adam ; the nature of the 
thing is the same in every case. The same is confirmed from 
the creation of Eve, whose origin as to her body is described 
from a rib of Adam ; but of her soul there is no mention. 
Whence it may plainly be gathered, that the origin of Eve's 
soul was not different from Adam's, because otherwise Moses 
would not have failed to state it, since he undertook to describe 
the first origin of all things ; and Adam himself would not have 
been ignorant of her origin, yea, would have proclaimed it. He 
would not only have said, ' This is bone of my bone, and flesh of 
my flesh,' but also, ' soul of my soul,' Gen. ii. 23 ; which would have 
been more forcible for expressing the bond of marriage, which 
not only is over the body, but the soul. In fine, if Adam's soul 
and ours are of different origin, they could not be classed in the 
same species, because the one would be from nothing, but the 
others out of pre-existent substance, evidently different."* 

A recent writer presents the following objections to our doc- 
trine: — " First. It is difficult to guard it from running into a 
view of the soul as material and corporeal, as compounded, 
divisible, and of course exposed to decay. Even the ingenious 
analogies of the ancient writers, such as that of 'lux ex 
lumine,' do not relieve the theory of this materialistic tendency. 
Second. There are many passages of Scripture which are care- 
ful to ascribe the creation of the soul immediately, and in 
a high sense, to God. The following may be consulted : — rTum. 
xvi. 22; Ps. xxxiii. 15; Eccl. iii. 21, xii. 7; Isa. lvii. 16 ; and Zech. 
xii. 1. Third. The soul of Christ was evidently not thus de- 
rived, but was immediately created. Yet he is said to have 
been made in all points like us, sin excepted. At least, he 
should have the two parts of human nature substantially like 
ourselves. His body was formed supernaturally, indeed, yet 
still from the body of the woman ; and, by parity of reason, we 
may infer the immediate creation of all human souls from the 
immediate creation of his. Fourth. The correlative doctrine 
of justification through the righteousness of Christ effectually 

* Turrettini Inst, Loc. V., Quaest. xiii. \ 3. 



( 



346 The Elohvm Revealed. [chap. xi. 

displaces tliis dogma of condemnation because of a physically 
generated, sinful soul. We are justified in Christ clearly upon 
the same principles by which we are condemned in Adam. But 
there is only a moral or spiritual connection between Christ and 
his seed ; which renders it plain that, however a physical gene- 
ration of the body may be the medium of transmission, the 
reason of the transmission is to be found in the moral relation 
of the race to the first man."* 

Of the arguments here set forth, the remark is obvious, — that 
they are largely made up of dicta of the scholastic philosophy, 
z 3 These ar- wn i cn assume the thing to be proved, are any thing 
gwnents «> t - but self-evident, and are incapable of demonstra- 
tenabie. ^ion. Such are the propositions, that whatever is 

generable is corruptible; that the soul is something above 
nature, and therefore incapable of generation by a natural 
power; and that every exertion of the generative faculty is 
from a merely physical force. In fact, Turretin, with calm 
unconsciousness, states as an unquestionable proposition, and 
an element of his argument, the very thing which he had set 
out to prove, that " the soul, as being immaterial and simple, 
cannot arise otherwise than from the creative power of God." 
But, passing by these points for the present, there are two pro- 
positions here assumed as true, each of which is demonstrably 
false, and each of which is fundamental to the whole argument 
and essential to the conclusion. These are, — that the pheno- 
mena of generation are so entirely within the reach of compre- 
hension, that if we are unable to explain the mode in which a soul 
may be begotten, we by that confession of ignorance forfeit our 
cause; and, — that the process is purely physical. An air is 
assumed of intimate familiarity with the whole rationale of the 
matter ; — a familiarity which is not only unattained, but unat- 
tainable. Take, by way of illustration, one of the simplest 
forms of propagation in physical nature, — the impregnation of 
the germen of a plant by the pollen. "The anthers consist of 
many minute cells, or compartments, formed by membranous 
partitions. At the proper season, the anthers burst longitu- 

* Southern Presbyterian Review, March, 1848, page 123. 



sect, ii.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 347 

dinally, and the little capsules or vessels called the pollen, are 
discharged in the form of yellow dust. A grain, or many 
grains, of the pollen, falling on the stigma, there bursts, in con- 
sequence of the moisture of dew or rain, and discharges its 
fluid contents. This fluid is then conveyed, by means of the 
absorbent vessels, or channels of the stigma and style, to the 
germen, or embryo seed-vessel, and thus, in an unknown and 
mysterious manner, renders the seeds fertile or prolific."* Such 
is the utmost extent of our information on this subject, where 
we know the most. We can analyze the mechanism of the 
plant, and trace the appearances presented, at successive stages 
in the progress of the phenomenon ; but how the several parts 
are prepared, how the fertile result is obtained, is a secret of 
which we know nothing. " If we ask, what is that force which 
is potential to development, to increase, to growth properly so 
called, we are led to the very edge of creation ; the existence of 
cause is suggested, and we are made to feel that, though, as to 
the true nature of that, there is but a hair's breadth between 
us and perfect knowledge, — full revelation of the great mystery 
into which the mightiest intellects of earth have earnestly desired 
to penetrate, — yet we cannot, it is not in the nature of things 
that Ave ever should, pass over this narrow threshold and stand 
on the same platform with the Fountain of Life, where the 
light shineth, and where there are no shadows, no mysteries ; for 
He knoweth all things. . . . ' The ablest endeavours,' says Owen, 
finely, * to penetrate to the beginning of things, do but carry us, 
when most successful, a few steps nearer that beginning, and 
then leave us on the verge of a boundless ocean of the unknown 
truth, dividing the secondary or subordinate phenomena in the 
chain of causation from the First Great Cause.'"f And yet 

* Comstock's Introduction to the Study of Botany, 1847, p. 65. 

f North British Review, 1858, vol. xxviii. p. 180. The article quoted in 
the text contains some remarkable illustrations of the amazing and inscrutable 
phenomena of nature. We subjoin a single example on the subject of the par- 
thenogenesis, or virgin propagation, of some species of insects. "It finds a 
striking illustration among the aphides, or plant-lice. The eggs are deposited in 
the leaf-axils, and in spring wingless six-footed larvse are developed from them. 
These again will produce a succession of broods without any connection with 



348 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

writers, who cannot tell how it is that the solitary aphis can 
become the parent of its myriad offspring, nor how the bloom 
of the strawberry becomes pregnant with the luscious fruit, al- 
though the whole process is open to their most vigilant obser- 
vation, will deny it to be possible that the soul is generated, 
because we cannot explain the mode of its occurrence ! 

But, whilst " Mysteey" is thus inscribed upon the doors of 
nature's workshop, there is one thing which a moment's judi- 
cious observation conclusively establishes. It is this : — that 
the process is not, even in the vegetable world, one merely 
physical : it is not the mere composition and combination of 
material substances. The strawberry is something very dif- 
ferent from a mere mixture of pollen and germen. Distinct 
from all the material elements which are involved, and con- 
trolling them all, there is a something which has none of the cha- 
racteristics of matter, — a plastic force, which, sitting enshrined 
and invisible within, rules and controls the whole process, and 
is a cause sine qua non, without which no single step in the 
process would ever take place. Or perhaps we should rather 
say there are two forces here involved, one dwelling in the 
germen and its auxiliary organs, the other in the stamens. By 
these forces the several organs of the plant are prepared to take 
their distinctive part in the wonderful process ; until, the time 
having come, the combination of the two constitutes a third 
force, by the agency of which the new plant is by degrees un- 

the males. If the virgin progeny be kept apart, the parthenogenesis, or true 
virgin birth, will go on even to the eleventh generation. A provision is thus 
made for their multiplication to an extent scarcely credible. In Lecture XVIII. 
of the comparative anatomy of the invertebrata, Owen has made the following 
calculation of the rate of increase : — ' The aphis lanigera produces each year 
ten viviparous broods, and one which is oviparous ; and each generation ave- 
rages one hundred individuals. 



1st generation, 


1 aphis. 


6th gen. 


10,000,000,000 


2d 


100 


7th " 


1,000,000,000,000 


3d " 


10,000 


8th " 


100,000,000,000,000 


4th " 


1,000,000 


9th " 


10,000,000,000,000,000 


5th 


100,000,000 


10th « 


1 , 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 



If the oviparous generation be added to this, you will have a thirty times greater 
result.' " 



sect, in.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 349 

folded and built up. Instead, therefore, of its being unques- 
tionably true that propagation is a purely physical phenomenon, 
— a subdivision and combination of material particles, — it would 
be much easier to sustain the proposition, that in no case is 
it predicable of mere matter. The corporeal elements seem to 
constitute the mere materials which the generative force seizes 
and shapes to its uses. So it is in the vegetable world, as we 
have here sufficiently seen. So it is in the animal tribes, among 
whom none will deny the entire animal to proceed from the 
parents, by generation. Yet, in them, thus propagated, there 
is not only the material body, but a spirit too ; which is indeed 
perishable, but is as certainly immaterial. He who denies this 
must repudiate the scriptural definition of a spirit, and is 
reduced to the conclusion that the exercises of animal reason 
and reflection are phenomena of mere matter, — an admission 
which is near akin to the denial of the immateriality of the 
human soul. " Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth 
upward," says the Preacher, "and the spirit of the beast that 
goeth downward to the earth?" — Eccl. iii. 21. Says our Sa- 
viour, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones." — Luke xxiv. 39. 
He, on the other hand, who admits that the spirit of the beast 
is immaterial, must at once acknowledge that generation is pre- 
dicable of immaterial spirits. Generation does not, then, imply 
the subdivision of the parental spirits, nor the composition of 
that of the offspring. 

But it will be said, that if our view does not lead to material- 
ism, at least it robs the soul of immortality ; for, says Baronius, 
"that which is generable is corruptible." By what process of 
reasoning will this be made to appear ? Is it pretended that the 
Creator is not capable, by means of propagation, to begin an 
immortal existence in a creature ? Or has he declared that he 
will not ? It is true, that what is generable may possibly be cor- 
ruptible. But, to fulfil the design of the dictum before us, it must 
be shown that it cannot be otherwise. And the assertion that it 
maybe so, is no less true of whatever has a beginning at all, than 
of that in which the beginning is by generation. Necessary eter- 
nity is a prerogative of God, "who only hath immortality." — 



350 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

1 Tim. vi. 16. It cannot be arrogated by any creature ; and cer- 
tainly no one will deny that the power of the Creator can confer 
enduring existence on any creature whatever. The term of exist- 
ence of creatures is determined, not by any necessary law either of 
duration or dissolution, as essential in them, but by the will of 
the Creator; and is to be ascertained by the revelations of his 
word. Here we learn, that although the spirit of the beast 
perishes, that of man is, not of necessity, but by endowment, 
immortal ; and there is nothing inconsistent with this recognised 
fact, in the supposition that his beginning is by generation. 
Baronius, indeed, objects to this view of the matter. He defines 
the immortality of the soul as consisting in the fact that it 
cannot be destroyed by any action of a creature, and demands 
whether the reason of this is not the fact that it is a spiritual 
substance. We answer, No; and point to the opposite facts, 
— that there is not a particle of matter in the universe which is 
not possessed of this same superiority over created agency, as 
to its destruction; and, — that the spirit of the beast is indirectly 
destructible by such finite power. 

If these suggestions are not sufficient to show the utter fallacy 
of any attempt, by a process of a priori reasoning from the 
nature of a substance, as material or spiritual, to arrive at any 
certain conclusion as to its duration, we may point to the 
opposite fact of which the Scriptures assure us, — that the dead 
shall be raised and the living changed ; so that the bodies of all 
shall become incorruptible and immortal. Thus, then, neither 
is that which is material necessarily corruptible, nor spirit 
necessarily immortal. The will of Him who gave them being 
fixes the bounds of each. 

Here we would call attention to a principle, which is variously 
asserted as an element of the argument, although its true nature 
is perhaps not usually recognised. It is, that the souls of 
men must be products of immediate creative power, because 
it is impossible in the nature of things that they should be 
generated. Here, we remark, by the way, that no one can assign 
limits to the action of a cause, unless he understands the nature 
and operation of that cause ; and therefore we, who must confess 



sect, iil] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 351 

our ignorance on these points in regard to generation, are 
entirely incompetent to decide that it is not possible that souls 
should be so produced. But we have another and still weightier 
objection to the assumption. Whilst it is immediately occupied 
with second causes, it in fact sets a limit to the power of God. 
In denying that it is possible that a soul should be generated, it in 
reality denies God to be able to produce souls in any way, except 
by the immediate exercise of his own power. In short, it is an 
example of the same kind of rationalism which denies it to be 
possible that God should rule the will of man, in consistency 
with its continued freedom; and that for the same reason, — 
because we cannot see how it can be done. But is the Almighty 
to be straitened by the imbecility of man's poor reason ? " Canst 
thou by searching find out God ? Canst thou find out the Al- 
mighty unto perfection ?" 

We are met with passages from the word of God. The Scrip- 
tures which are relied upon are the following. Num. xvi. 22, 
§ 4. Scrip- and xxvii. 16 : — " The Lord, the God of the spirits of 
uu-es alleged. a vj_ fl es h." Psalm xxxiii. 15 : — "He fashioneth their 
hearts alike." Eccles. iii. 21 : — " Who knoweth the spirit of 
man that goeth upward?" Eccles. xii. 7: — "Then shall the 
dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return 
unto God who gave it." Isa. xlii. 5 : — " Thus saith God the Lord, 
... he that giveth breath unto the people upon the earth, and 
spirit to them that walk therein." Isa. lvii. 16 : — " The souls 
which I have made." Zech. xii. 1: — "The Lord which . . . 
formeth the spirit of man within him." 

We appeal to the reader, whether these places prove any thing 
to the purpose ; except a consciousness, on the part of those who 
use them, of the necessity of Scripture authority to sustain the 
foregone conclusions of their philosophy. But of the meaning 
of these texts, and their relation to the matter here at issue, Ave 
shall speak particularly after a little. There is only one additional 
scripture that is relied upon, as declaring the immediate crea- 
tion of the soul. It is Hebrews xii. 9 : — " We have had fathers 
of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence : 
shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of 



352 The Elolihn Revealed. chap. xi. 

spirits, and live?" This text is by Flavel and others regarded 
as conclusive. "Here God is called the Father of spirits, or 
souls, and that in an emphatical antithesis or contradistinction 
to our natural fathers, who are called fathers of our flesh, or 
bodies."* By this interpretation, (pap£ } ) the flesh, is supposed to 
mean our bodies, considered as physical organizations, contrasted 
with our souls. But this is a sense in which the word is never 
elsewhere used. The true meaning of the passage may probably 
be elicited by reference to the language of our Saviour to Nico- 
demus, in John iii. 6 : — "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, 
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." If earthly 
fathers are entitled to reverence, from whom we have derived a 
nature depraved and fallen, much more is it due to Him'who has 
restored us by his grace to holiness and given us the adoption 
of sons. This interpretation is undoubtedly far more conform- 
able to the force of the original language and the analogy of 
Scripture than that which we reject. There are two insupe- 
rable objections to the admission of the latter. The one is, that, 
as already stated, it attributes to the word "flesh" a sense 
which is not only without precedent, but incompatible with its 
received meaning. The related uses of the words, flesh, and, 
body, appear in the climax of Eph. v. 30 : — " We are members 
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." In 1 Cor. xv. 50, 
we are told that " flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom 
of God." And yet it is written, in the 44th verse, that "it is 
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." In the 
scriptural use of the word, flesh, one or other of two leading 
ideas seems always to be involved. The first is that of animal in- 
teguments, considered irrespective of organization and life, or, to 
the negation of it. See Bev. xix. 18 ; Acts ii. 31 ; Eph. v. 29, 30. 
The second is the idea of human nature, ordinarily implying 
moral corruption. See Bom. viii. 3 ; Gal. v. 17 ; John i. 14 ; 
Heb. v. 7. Berhaps we ought to add to these another class of 
expressions, in which the idea conveyed by the word is that of 
relationship. This, however, involves both the preceding ideas, 

* Treatise on the Soul. Flavel's Works, folio, Glasgow, 1764, vol. i. p. 296. 



sect, iv.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 353 

— original community of corporeity and of nature. See Gen. ii. 
23 ; 24; 2 Sam. v. 1; Bom. xi. 14. 

Our other objection to the interpretation here considered is, 
that the word "our" is wanting in the text, in the latter member 
of the antithesis. Had the idea which occupied the apostle's 
mind been that of contrast between the origin of body and 
soul, he would not have failed to mark it by corresponding 
expressions. To the "fathers of our flesh," he would have op- 
posed "the Father of our spirits." The adoption, instead of 
this, of the phrase " Father of spirits," is altogether inconsistent 
with the supposition, that the apostle designed a contrast between 
the origin of the body and the soul. 

An interpretation, which seems to flow naturally from the 
language employed, is, of a comparison between fathers who 
are themselves but men, and the authors of a corrupted and 
fallen nature in their seed, — and a holy God, the great, the infinite 
Spirit ; whose family is composed of those happy spirits, angelic 
and redeemed, who shine in holiness before his throne. " We 
have had fathers, themselves by nature carnal ; and from whom 
we inherit a nature like theirs, corrupt and unholy. If we owe 
them reverence, how much more to God, the infinite Spirit, the 
Father, — the Creator, Preserver and Benefactor, — of the brother- 
hood of blessed spirits in heaven!" " The Father of spirits." 
With this compare Isaiah ix. 5. " His name shall be called, 
the everlasting Father, {Heb. the Father of ages.)" "It signi- 
fies," says Alexander, "a father or possessor of eternity,, i.e. an 
eternal being, — or, an author and bestower of eternal life. 
Possibly it may include both."* So here, — " the Father of 
spirits," — the infinite Spirit, the author of all others, irrespective 
of the mode of the relation. The contrast is not between the 
origin of body and soul, but between the dignity and authority 
of our natural fathers, and of the infinite Spirit, our Father in 
heaven. 

There are two suggestions, which, duly considered, will obviate 
any difficulty which the texts above cited may be thought to in- 
terpose to our doctrine. The first is, that the question is not 

* Alexander on Isaiah, vol. i. p. 162. 
23 



354 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xi. 

whether God is the Creator; but whether in the creation of the 
soul his agency is immediate, and without the instrumentality 
of a second cause. Hence ; quotations to prove God the soul's 
creator, are entirely aside of the mark. Yet such are the texts 
above cited. They do not even seem to have any bearing on the 
real question; unless we except that from the epistle to the 
Hebrews, of which we have particularly spoken. It is on all 
hands agreed, that the bodies of men derive their being through 
generation ; and yet the Scriptures speak of the creative agency 
of God in this case, with a particularity and minuteness of de- 
tail, such as has no parallel in reference to the soul. One or 
two places will serve as an illustration of the language thus em- 
ployed. Says the patriarch Job, "Thine hands have made me 
and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy 
me. Eemember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the 
clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again? Hast thou not 
poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? Thou hast 
clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones 
and sinews." — Job x. 8-11. Again, he says, in allusion to his 
servant, "Did not He that made me in the womb make him?" 
— Job xxxi. 15. Says the Psalmist, "Thou hast possessed my 
reins ; thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise 
thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made : marvellous are 
thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance 
was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously 
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see 
my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my 
members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, 
when as yet there was none of them." — Psalm cxxxix. 13-16. 
It would be acknowledged preposterous to conclude, from these 
expressions, that the bodies of men are created immediately by 
God, without generation. Why, then, should such an interpreta- 
tion be forced upon expressions in regard to the soul, which it can- 
not be pretended are more emphatic and unequivocal than these ? 
The second remark to be made on those scriptures, to which 
appeal is made, is, that it would be no way inconsistent with the 
doctrine of the generation of the whole man in Adam's poste- 



sect, iv.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 355 

rity, if the Scriptures should be found to speak in a different 
manner, of the origin of the soul and of the body. For, in the 
creation of the parents of our race, the body was moulded out 
of pre-existent dust; but the soul was created of nothing, by 
the Spirit of God. To this, undoubtedly, Elihu alludes, when 
he says, " There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Al- 
mighty hath given him understanding." And again, "The 
Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty 
hath given me life." — Job xxxii. 8; xxxiii. 4. Language on 
this subject, which is perfectly consistent with either view, — and 
such is the case with all the scriptures cited above, — should not 
be wrested, as though fatal to that which we take. 

We proceed to the affirmative argument. Here, however, it 
should be observed, that ours is a gratuitous labour. The bur- 
a 5 Our ar u ^ en °^ P ro °f properly rests upon those who deny 
mem gratui- the reality of the seeming operation of second 
tous - causes, and assert the immediate and miraculous 

agency of God. So long as their position is not proved, the 
opposite holds good. That the human species is propagated by 
generation, — that children are the offspring of their parents, — 
is a proposition which, it would seem, might be taken for 
granted, if any thing may. It is asserted in the Scriptures ; it 
is attested by all the analogies of nature; it is confirmed by all 
the phenomena of conception and birth ; its reality is enstamped 
on the whole constitution of the child, — which displays here- 
ditary traits, not only in the body, but in the soul ; and not only 
those which are common to the race, but often, in a very distinct 
inscription, those which are peculiar to the immediate parents; 
and it is held in undoubting belief by the whole mass of mankind. 
In short, the proposition, that the child is the offspring of his 
parents, no one could venture to contradict in terms. And yet 
this is the very question which is at issue. For, be it observed, 
that the child is not merely a mass of beautifully moulded clay. 
It is not merely, nor principally, a body. On the contrary, the 
chief, the controlling, the essential, element in its being is its in- 
corporeal, intellectual and moral nature. It is not the body 
only, but the soul, upon which the parental lineaments are en- 



356 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

graven. It is not the body chiefly, but the soul, of which con- 
ditions and relations dependent on those of the parents are pre- 
dicated. In short, in the unity of the human person, the soul 
is the principal, the controlling, element; and he who admits that 
the child is derived from the parent, and yet denies that the 
propagation comprehends the soul, "palters in a double sense," 
and denies in detail what he cannot venture to contradict in 
form. The two statements, — that man propagates his species; 
and, — that man propagates the bodies of his posterity, — are 
any thing but one and the same; and he who asserts that the 
latter only is true, in so doing denies the truth of the other. 

In entering on the direct argument, our first appeal is to the 
express testimony of the word of God. It has already appeared, 
g6. Argument that when God created Adam he made him in his 
from Seth'a wn image and likeness ; — a likeness not residing in 
the body merely, nor especially ; but en stamped 
upon his nature in its generative constitution, and on his soul, 
in moral agency, knowledge, righteousness, holiness and dominion. 
The perfection of this likeness was defaced in the fall. In the 
fourth chapter of Genesis, we have a narrative of the birth and 
history of Cain and Abel, of the generations of Cain, and of the 
birth of Seth and his son Enos. Respecting Cain and Abel, we 
have no information, as bearing upon the present inquiry. Their 
blood does not now flow in any human veins; and the account 
respecting them is brief, and contains nothing specific in regard 
to a nature which is not any longer transmitted from them. 
But Seth is the father of the present population of the earth. 
In the manner of his origin, and the character of his nature, we 
have the original and pattern of our own; and, in regard to him, 
we have a statement, explicit, unambiguous, and apparently in- 
capable of being explained away. The personal and family 
history of the individual, Adam, having been completed in the 
fourth chapter, the first book of the inspired record there closes ; 
and the next chapter begins the second, which is headed by its 
distinctive theme. It is " The Book of the Generations," not of 
the individual Adam, — the first man ; but of the generic Adam, — 
the race. This, the very first expressions of the record con- 



sect, v.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 357 

clusively show. " This is the Book of the Genekations of 
Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God 
made he him : male and female created he them, and blessed 
them, and called their name, Adam, in the day when they were 
created. And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and 
begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his 
name Seth." — Gen. v. 1-3. Of this language, several things are 
noteworthy. 

1. The statement is presented as prefatory to a narrative of 
the populating of the old world, and its universal corruption and 
overthrow. Of the violence and wickedness which brought the 
deluge upon the world, it exhibits the spring and source. It 
states the origin of the image, of which the subsequent chapters 
display the dark lineaments. Placed, too, as it is, as the first 
link at the head of the genealogical chain, which is traced, in 
the same chapter, to Noah, the second father of our race, — it in- 
dicates, not merely the manner of Seth's origin; but, in his 
instance, states the law which governs the whole, and is equally 
applicable to Enos, Cainan, and each several individual of his 
posterity, as well as to Seth. 

2. The language under consideration signalizes, in a manner 
worthy of special note, the prolific constitution with which Adam 
was endowed, when created in holiness. When God had created 
man, he had in a very emphatic manner marked the distinction 
of the sexes, by the temporary solitude of Adam, and the after 
creation of his wife. " Male and female created he them. And 
God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and 
multiply, and replenish the earth." Thus, at the very first, 
does the Creator mark propagation — and that without limita- 
tion as to any part of their being, but predicated of them in their 
entire nature, as they were "Adam" — as the means of their 
increase. A narrative is then given of the fall and the curse, 
and of the history of Cain and Abel, and the birth of Seth and 
Enos. Then the Spirit of God, about to exhibit the gliding and 
progressive stream of the world's moral history, in our ancestral 
line, recurs again to the original ordinance of propagation, as 
the key to all that follows : — "In the day that God created man, 



358 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

. . . male and female created he them, and blessed them," — 
with that blessing, of which the first element was fruitfulness, 
and the second, consequent possession of the whole earth. He 
then states the birth of Seth : — "Adam lived a hundred and 
thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, 
and called his name Seth." What means the earnestness with 
which, in a narrative so brief, the Spirit of God recurs again 
and again to the sexual relation, and the generative constitution 
of Adam? Can it be questioned, that, thus occurring at the 
very opening of the sacred record, and placed in immediate con- 
nection with the birth of our father Seth, it was designed to 
bear upon the doctrine of man's nature, and original sin, — that 
guilt and depravity which have their seat in the soul ? 

3. The specific design of the Bible, as set forth therein, is to 
unfold to us the nature and history of our relations to God. 
Beginning with the story of the creation of the world, and of 
man, in the image of God, and setting before us his high dignity 
and privilege, crowned with glory and honour, in dominion over 
the creatures, and in covenant with God, — it makes known the 
history of his base apostasy and grievous fall. It then an- 
nounces the glorious plan of redemption, in the promise made 
to the woman. Of that plan, it is a history. To it, every page 
of the volume looks, gradually unfolding its hidden mystery, 
until it bursts upon the world in the triumphant catastrophe of 
Gethsemane and the cross ; and then reveals, in prophetic vision, 
the story of its triumphs over sin and the curse, until the con- 
summation of all things. At the beginning of such a history, 
in the very lowest course of the foundation of such a temple of 
God's glory, we find the statement in question respecting the 
birth of Seth. It is the very first fact recorded in " the book 
of the generations of Adam," that is, of man. Nor is there any 
room for the idea that the form of the expression is merely 
casual. A careful examination of the whole connection must 
produce upon the reader an impression directly the opposite of 
this. It has the characteristics of a deliberately designed and 
most significant statement, the obliteration of which would 
create a chasm in the field of revelation. It purports to exhibit 



sect, vi.] Extent of Adam s Parental Relation. 359 



the bond which, connects us with the transgression and ruin of 
our first parents. It states the fact to which all subsequent 
Scripture looks back as alone sufficient to account for the corrup- 
tion and depravity of our race, and the curse which overshadows 
the world. The omission of this passage, — the elision of the 
fact here stated, — would leave the broad tide of the world's dark 
and lamentable experience entirely separated from the bitter 
fountain in our apostate parents. In other places the connec- 
tion is presumed or asserted. Here we have its channel dis- 
closed, and are permitted to see the outflow of the turbid stream. 
The fact of Seth's birth and family had been already stated in 
the preceding chapter. And, if the interpretation for which we 
here contend be rejected, we are shut up to the admission that 
here is an unmeaning repetition; — a tautology, the assumption 
of which has given occasion to rationalistic exegesis to assert 
the whole to be a compilation, clumsily put together by Closes, 
out of several documents of older date. 

-i. In the place here considered, we are not left to vague and 
uncertain inference ; but have a distinct and unequivocal state- 
ment as to the origin of the soul of Seth: — "Adam bes;at a son 
in his own likeness, after his image." The begetting is in terms 
predicated of that in which was the image. If Adam's whole 
image, corporeal and spiritual, was reproduced in Seth, it follows 
that Seth, in his entire being, was begotten by Adam. This 
conclusion no ingenuity can evade. But the testimony is yet 
more explicit than this. It points with emphasis to the image 
of God in which Adam was created; and, with a mournful sig- 
nificance, contrasts that of Seth with it. " In the day that (rod 
created man, in the likeness of Grod made he him ;" "and Adam 
begat a son in his own likeness." Xo one will pretend that 
Adam's likeness to Grod was any thing short of a moral likeness 
dwelling in his soul. It is then Seth's moral likeness to Adam 
that is here especially meant ; and, the begetting being expressly 
predicated of that in which the likeness lay, the conclusion is 
unavoidable, that, if Seth was begotten at all, his soul pro- 
ceeded from his parents, as well as his body. 

o. The passage, which we have here examined, is not only 



360 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

thus important, as containing a statement so explicit, on the 
subject of our inquiry; but, occurring as it does in the first 
records of our race, inscribed by the Holy Spirit in intimate 
connection with the account of the fall, — and thus, in the minds 
of the inspired men who penned the subsequent scriptures, in- 
separably associated with that event, as the link of theirs and 
the world's connection with it, — it serves as a key to their 
writings; — a rule by which to interpret their several testimony, 
when in other places they speak on the same subject. To some 
of these we now turn. 

Says Job, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? 
not one." — Job xiv. 4. The sentiment is repeated by Eliphaz, 
I 7. Other and re-affirmed by Bildad. "What is man, that he 
Scripture should be clean ? and he which is born of a woman, 

wmj ' that he should be righteous?" — Job xv. 14. "How 
can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is 
born of a woman?" — Job xxv. 4. We are not unaware that these, 
and other passages which follow, are supposed to be susceptible 
of such interpretation as avoids the conclusion which we deduce. 
But it is the duty of the candid student of the word of God to 
inquire, — not how far the Bible may be forced to conform to the 
preconceived deductions of our philosophy, — but, what is the 
unconstrained significance of its language. We, therefore, bring 
these passages before the reader, and ask him to consider to 
what conclusion they obviously lead. These patriarchs, unani- 
mously, and with the emphasis of the interrogatory form, assert 
the doctrine that like begets like. They predicate uncleanness 
and sin of man. That the soul is here implicated, no one will 
question. Of this defilement, it is further asserted, that it is 
consequent upon the fact of our origin from a defiled source. In 
other words, they declare the unholy child to derive, — not its 
defilement only, but that which is defiled, — its moral being, — 
from its apostate parents. The same remarks apply to the lan- 
guage of David: — "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin 
did my mother conceive me." — Psalm li. 5. 

Similar in its meaning is the expression of our Saviour to 
Nicodemus: — "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and 



sect, vi.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 361 

that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said 
unto thee ; Ye must be born again." — John iii. 6 ; 7. It is hardly 
necessary to say, that in this place the language, as the original 
shows, comprehends, not the birth merely, but the generation. 
Here occurs to us the remarkable argument which Dr. Green 
makes, from the scriptural usage of the word " flesh," of which 
our Saviour's language is an illustration. Speaking of the idea 
that the soul of each several individual, created originally 
without impurity, is denied by the body, he says, "It seems 
to me to coincide with the numerous expressions of St. Paul — 
perhaps, to be countenanced by those expressions — in which a 
carnal or fleshly mind is put for human depravity. By this 
apostle, the whole embodied principles of sin are emphatically 
denominated, the flesh : — ' The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, 
and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one 
to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.' — 
Gal. v. 17. For some reason or other, 'the flesh' is here repre- 
sented as the source and seat of sin." True; and the reason 
would seem to be abundantly clear, if the language of our Saviour 
to Nicodemus be taken into the account. He urges the neces- 
sity of the soul being renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. 
This necessity he attributes to the fact that man's spiritual 
nature is depraved, — depraved by virtue of generation from a 
depraved source ; and that it needs a work which shall be as 
radical in its influence over the nature, as this corrupted birth, — 
a new birth to holiness. "That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Now, 
in respect to this expression, observe: — 1. That, as Dr. 
Green truly remarks of the language of Paul, so here, "the 
whole embodied principles of sin are emphatically denominated, 
'the flesh.' ' : 2. That these principles are not substances, which 
can have an existence alone; but accidents of the soul, which 
can only therefore exist where their subject the soul exists. 3. 
That on account of this inseparable relation of the depravity to 
the soul, and of that and the body to each other, the whole man 
is in the Scriptures designated by this most conspicuous trait ; 
and, in consequence of the fact that the depravity which is 



362 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

hidden in the heart exhibits itself to creature observation mainly 
through the actions of the body, the whole takes its designation 
from the flesh in which it is thus discovered. 4. "The works 
of the flesh are manifest, which are these : adultery, fornication, 
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, 
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, 
drunkenness, revellings, and such like." — Gal. v. 19-21. Now, 
of these our Saviour expressly testifies that they originate, not 
in the body, but the soul. "From within, out of the heart of 
men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil 
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come 
from within, and defile the man." — Mark vii. 21-23. 5. That 
our Saviour here distinctly testifies that "the flesh" is a subject 
of generation ; — it both begets and is begotten ; and the offspring 
of this generation is depraved, because it springs from the de- 
praved source, the likeness of which it bears. 6. That he pre- 
dicates, of regeneration, a subject precisely commensurate with 
the depraved generation. It is that which is born of the flesh, 
which must be born of the Spirit; and it is because of this 
fleshly birth, that the other is requisite. Now, in view of these 
things, we ask, who will venture to come in with a philosophical 
apparatus and explain Christ's language away? Shall we be 
told that the soul was not begotten ? Then it does not need a 
new birth. Shall we be persuaded that it is the depravity only 
that flows to us from our parentage? Then may the accident 
exist, without its subject, — depravity, without a depraved thing! 
Shall we be assured that it is the body to which the depravity 
attaches, — that it is primitive in it, and thence transfused into 
the soul, previously undefiled? Then must we believe our 
Saviour mistaken, in declaring that "all these" come out of the 
heart, and defile the man. In short, no ingenuity can subvert 
the fact, that our Saviour here declares, not only the depravity, 
but the subject of it, to proceed from a parental subject like 
itself. 

Having thus glanced at a few passages, to which each one will 
be able, from his own reading of the Scriptures, to add many 



sect, vii.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 363 

others, we ask ; — Are the interpretations here given, in accord- 
ance with the grammatical structure — the plain and literal 
meaning — of the language used by the Holy Spirit? And if this 
question must be answered in the affirmative, we further in- 
quire, — What sufficient reasons can be given for setting aside 
the sense so ascertained, and adopting another? So far as ap- 
pears, the only reason assigned, consists in the supposed phi- 
losophical necessity of repudiating the conclusion to which we 
are thus inevitably brought. But we have already seen, that 
this supposed necessity does not exist, — that sound philosophy 
does not utter such testimony as is attributed to it. 

Further, whilst philosophy is entitled to a most respectful 
hearing, in its own appropriate sphere, on the other hand, 
i s Proper ^" nen the Spirit of God makes to us communi- 
piace of phi- cations involving radical questions concerning the 
losophy. whole relation of man to God, and to the salva- 

tion of Christ, it is the business of philosophy to be silent ; and 
the statements are to be interpreted solely by the assistance of 
their Author, speaking in other scriptures. The declarations 
of the Bible are indeed to be explained and understood in accord- 
ance with the established laws of language ; but the meaning 
thus ascertained may not be set aside, or modified, out of respect 
to any other than a scriptural authority, — the result of an im- 
partial and reverent comparison of spiritual things with spirit- 
ual, in accordance with the analogy of faith. This is especially 
true where the statements in question, as in the present case, 
involve important theological issues. It will not be pretended 
that the analogy of the system of truth is in any thing at 
variance with the position maintained in the present argument. 
On the contrary, we trust to make it abundantly evident, before 
we close, that all the analogy of the doctrines of the Bible tends 
directly to our position. 

We are deeply solicitous, in reference to the views here pre- 
sented, as to the relation of philosophy to the interpretation of 
the Scriptures on this subject, because of our deliberate and 
earnest conviction that here, and here only, can a stand be made, 
consistently and with complete success, against the assaults of 



304 Tlie Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

Pelagian heresy. If orthodox theologians unite with Pelagians 
in explaining away the teachings of the Scriptures on the origin 
of the soul, in deference to the dicta of an intrusive philosophy, 
it is impossible that they should successfully contest the right 
of their more venturous associates to apply the same key to the 
solution of the difficulties which surround the question of its 
nature ; especially as those difficulties arise principally from the 
departure already allowed from the testimony of the Scriptures 
on the former point. No argument can be constructed which 
will vindicate the one, and not at the same time justify the other. 
The doctrine of the primary, absolute and final authority of the 
Scriptures, — and that is the question at issue, — is the citadel of 
the Reformed, the Christian faith. To deviate from it, in the 
most insignificant matter, whether through inadvertence or 
design, is to surrender the fortress ; and thenceforth there is no 
available check upon the incursions of error. There is no bar- 
rier but this where it can effectually be said to the subtleties of 
human wit and the pretensions of carnal philosophy, " Hitherto 
shalt thou come, but no farther." Wiffgers. the historian of 
the Pelagian controversy, himself not unfavourable to the doc- 
trines of Pelagius, makes the following just and instructive 
statement in respect to the manner in which the controversy was 
conducted by the Pelagians and their great antagonist, the illus- 
trious Augustine : — " Both Augustine and the Pelagians rested 
the truth of their opinions on reason and Scripture ; but in a 
totally reverse order. What Augustine thought he had found 
in the Bible, he also sought to defend with philosophic weapons. 
The Pelagians sought confirmation from the Bible for the opi- 
nions they had derived from reason, and reflection on the moral 
nature of man. The former was a super-rationalist ; the latter, 
rationalists. Julian, in several ^passages, declares the principle 
of his rationalistic interpretation of the Bible : — ' Scripture can 
teach nothing against the plain decisions of reason.' Aug. Op. 
Imp. ii. 53, iv. 136, vi. 41.'"* Such has been the order of the 
controversy from the beginning, wherever it has been conducted 
successfully with this proud and rationalistic heresy. " Credo, 

* Wiggers's Augustinism and Pelagianism. Andover, p. 373. 



sect, vin.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 365 

ut intelligani," "Faith, before reason," is the watchword of 
victory in this controversy. He who fights under this banner 
will come off triumphant. He who forgets or inverts it will 
inevitably fall. 

There are objections which appear insurmountable against 
the doctrine that the soul is an immediate creation. First. 
a 9. Dualism -^ introduces a gross and revolting dualism into 
of the creation man's nature. As originally made, Adam compre- 
theory. hended in one being the two distinct elements of 

body and soul, joined together in a union which was essen- 
tial to their normal condition and to the happiness of man, — 
a union which nothing but the penal curse could have dis- 
solved. In the unity of these elements, there subsisted a 
common identity, a common consciousness, common moral re- 
lations, and a common moral character. And it is a fact 
which is not without significance, that in the narrative of his 
creation there is no intimation of an extraneous creation of the 
soul and its subsequent insertion in the body. " The Lord Grod 
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life; and man was a living soul." We 
behold the dust moulded into form and symmetry, but breath- 
less and lifeless. "We look again, and the inanimate clay is 
warm with vital heat ; the breath of life fills the lungs ; the 
light of intelligence beams from the eye; and an immortal 
spirit dwells within. Thus, although diverse elements enter 
into his being, there is nothing to suggest or countenance any 
conception at variance with the most perfect and inseparable 
unity. We read nothing to sustain the assertion of Turrettine, 
that Adam's soul " came extrinsically through creation, and 
was infused into his body by the breath of God." It was not 
his soul, but his breath, which was breathed into his nostrils ; 
and of any extrinsic creation of the soul, and its subsequent 
infusion into the body, we have no intimation. In fact, there- 
is no distinct mention of the creation of the soul at all ; but 
the whole style of the narrative seems to imply that it was 
created within the body, in an original, perfect and inseparable 
identification with it. 



366 The Eloltim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

But, on the contrary, by the doctrine which we here oppose, 
we are introduced to man as comprehending in his person two 
distinct and separate individuals, — two several beings. They 
are described as independent in the sources and even in the 
time of their origin, — as possessing, severally, complete constitu- 
tions, prior to, and irrespective of, their connection with each 
other, — as having originally distinct and contrasted moral 
characters, — as bound to each other by a relation, not essential 
and ah origine, but accidental and secondary, by virtue of a 
factitious and mechanical union; and, when thus brought 
together, acting as distinct individuals upon each other, as 
extraneous and antagonistic influences ; so that, in the process, 
the soul, hitherto uncorrupted, is denied and enslaved in sin, in 
consequence of its connection with the body, which derives and 
conveys to it corruption of nature from our apostate parents. 

It results from these views that Adam's soul and body were 
not inseparably united, — that is to say, he was not created 
immortal; and that the separation which takes place at death, 
so far from being a penal condition, an unhappy effect of the 
curse against sin, should rather be regarded as a desirable 
estate, — the restoration of the soul to its native and normal 
condition; — and that the soul, so far from anticipating the 
resurrection with desire and joy, should rather recoil from it, 
as from the resumption of broken and cast-off fetters. In fact, 
this theory robs the doctrine of the resurrection of much of its 
glorious significance, — implying, as does that doctrine, a sus- 
tained identity between soul and body, even in the grave ; — and 
the language of our Confession on that subject becomes mere 
unmeaning sound. According to it, the souls of believers are 
with and united to Christ, and the bodies, though in their 
graves, participate in that union. " The communion in glory 
with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy 
immediately after death, is in that their souls are then made 
perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where 
they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the 
full redemption of their bodies, which even in death continue 



sect, ix.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 367 

united to Christ, and rest in their graves as in their beds, till 
at the last day they be again united to their souls."* 

It is a very serious objection to the doctrine which we here 
oppose, that it entirely obliterates the relation of brotherhood 
1 10. Christ's to us which the Lord Jesus Christ has condescended 
humanity. to assume, by becoming a son of Abraham and seed 

of the woman. That the Scriptures emphasize this relation as 
a real one, no one will question. It is dwelt upon for our en- 
couragement in coming to a Saviour who has a sympathy for us 
by virtue of his kinhood to us, and consequent sense of our 
infirmities, and experience of our temptations ; and it is spoken 
of as essential to qualify him to become our surety and saviour. 
The scriptures which speak on this subject — and the same 
remark will apply to all to which we have appealed in this 
discussion — address themselves to the common people ; and, in 
language adapted to their understandings, speak in a manner 
which could not but produce in their minds the conviction that 
the relation was a real one, resulting from a true generation 
of the entire human nature from our first parents. On this 
subject the angel says to the Virgin, " The Holy Ghost shall 
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
thee," — Luke i. 35; and the assurance given to Joseph was, that 
"that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." — Matt, 
i. 20. Here is a miraculous but proper and real generation of 
a true humanity, springing thus from the common fountain of 
the human race, and comprehending in it " a true body and a 
reasonable soul; being conceived by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance;" 
" so that two whole, perfect and distinct natures, the Godhead 
and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one 
person. "f According to the view which we oppose, instead of 
a body and soul begotten of the substance of the Virgin, his 
was an immediately created soul, having really no other relation 
to ours than that it was endowed with similar capacities and 



* Larger Catechism, Question 37. 

f Larger Catechism, Question 89 ; and Confession, viii. 2. 



368 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

attributes, sin excepted; but, as to its origin, as distinct and 
unrelated to us as are the angels in heaven ; and the only 
relation of kindred which he bears to our race consists in his 
occupying a body made of dust like ours, and sustaining some 
kind of a vegetative relation to the bodies of the first parents 
of our race. It is true that, in the same way, it dissolves all 
the mutual relations of kinhood among men ; as their souls, 
severally, are supposed to be distinct and independent creations. 
But, certainly, this is no redeeming fact ; nor does it relieve the 
theory of its obnoxious bearing upon our common relation to 
the Son of God. 

The writer in the Southern Presbyterian Review, as quoted 
above, appeals indeed to this same characteristic of his theory, 
as conclusive in its favour. He assumes it to be unquestionable, 
that the soul of Christ was immediately created, and hence con- 
cludes that ours must be so. Were the premise admitted, the 
• •onelusion does not follow. The miraculous conception takes 
the case out of the category of ordinary generation; and pre- 
cludes any such argument, from the manner of it, to other 
cases. But the writer referred to gives no argument and no 
scripture, to support his assumption; and we are persuaded that 
there is none to be found. Beason suggests none to us ; and 
revelation is entirely silent as to a creation of the soul of the 
Son of God. On the contrary, as if expressly to put to con- 
fusion such a suggestion, it emphasizes the divine efficiency in 
reference to his body: — "A body hast thou prepared me." 
Were such language employed in regard to his soul, with 
what promptitude would it be used in the present argument ! 
And yet, even the body was begotten. How, we do not know. 
Xor are we wiser in any other case. The curious argument of 
Augustine may have been present to the mind of the writer in 
the Review : — " If the fact avails to show the pre-eminence of 
the priesthood of Christ over that of Levi, that Christ as priest 
was prefigured by him who received tithes of Abraham, and of 
Levi in him, it is evident that Christ did not pay tithes in 
Abraham. But if Levi therefore paid tithes because he was 
in the loins of Abraham, it follows that Christ did not pay 



sect, x.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 369 

tithes, as not being in Abraham's loins. But if we admit Levi 
to have been in Abraham merely as to his body, and not as to 
his soul, then Christ also was in him; because according to the 
flesh he was of the seed of Abraham, and he, also, upon this 
supposition, paid tithes. What then becomes of his pre-emi- 
nence over Levi, on account of Levi being tithed by Melchize- 
dek, in the loins of Abraham, — when Christ was in him too, and, 
hence, equally paid tithes ; unless we suppose that in some way 
Christ was not in him ? But who doubts this as to his flesh ? 
Therefore he was not in him as to his soul. Further, the soul 
of Christ was not generated ; otherwise it would also have 
been present in Adam in his apostasy."* 

Were we to admit the soundness of this reasoning, the con- 
clusion would remain, that the souls of all except Christ proceed 
from propagation. We cannot, however, make use of the argu- 
ment ; because evidently fallacious. The apostle is comparing 
the priesthoods of Aaron and Christ. In the interview between 
Abraham and Melchizedek, he regards the former as the father 
and representative of Levi, whose priesthood was, in fact, an in- 
heritance derived from Abraham. Melchizedek was the type 
and representative of Christ, whose filial relation to Abraham 
was altogether secondary to that which, " by the power of an 
endless life," under the oath of God, he sustained to Melchizedek. 
Thus, when Levi paid tithes in Abraham, he did not so much 
pay them to Melchizedek, as, to Christ, the priest for whom 
in the transaction Melchizedek stood. The apostle, therefore, 
purposely holds the natural relation of Christ to Abraham in 
abeyance, in view of the paramount importance of his unchange- 
able priesthood, which he contrasts with the changing priest- 
hood of Levi. No sound conclusions can, therefore, be derived 
from Augustine's reasoning, which is so entirely incongruous to 
the scope and design of the apostle. We might add, that, ad- 
dressed as was the argument of Paul to the children of Abra- 
ham, it is further conclusive to them, as their lineage was traced 
in the public genealogies, in the line of the father; and, since 



* Augustinus de Genesi ad Lit., xii. 19. 
24 



370 The Elohhn Revealed. [chap. xi. 

Christ was without a human father, he was not thus technically 
reckoned a son of Abraham. See Heb. vii. 3. 

The suggestion of Augustine, in relation of the soul of Christ 
being in Adam in his apostasy, we will have occasion to notice 
when we come to consider his mediatorial work. We may, how- 
ever, remark, that the opinion to which we oppose ourselves, 
would deprive the doctrine of the miraculous conception of all 
its significance. An occurrence to which the Scriptures, histori- 
cal and prophetic, point with the finger of awe, as to one of the 
great mysteries of revelation, is then reduced to the trivial fact 
that his body was begotten out of the ordinary course of nature. 

The creation doctrine is exceptionable in subordinating the 
divine agency to the control of second causes. It must be 
1 11. Creation- admitted, that wherever the second cause is present, 
,-*mandmira- generation will take place. The conclusion is, that 
dc8 - the creative power of the Almighty must wait in 

attendance on these finite agencies, to provide souls for the 
bodies thus produced. It does not obviate this objection to say 
that the whole matter is subject to the providential ordering 
and control of God. For however he may be recognised as 
providentially supreme, yet is his creative omnipotence placed 
in an attitude of inferiority. In the order of operation, it is sup- 
posed to follow and wait upon the action of the finite causes of 
generation. 

Again, this theory, by introducing miracles as an ordinary 
element in the common course of things, and placing them- in un- 
distinguishable combination with natural effects, destroys wholly 
the significance of miraculous occurrences ; and thus sweeps away 
all means of information as to the existence of God and of com- 
munication with him. A miracle is an occurrence Avhich it is 
beyond the power of natural causes to produce. Its importance 
in theology consists in the fact that it constitutes the only con- 
ceivable means of opening up intelligent communication between 
us and God. In fact, whatever the form in which the evidences 
of revelation may be stated, they, in the last stage of the argu- 
ment, appeal to miracles as the conclusive fact in the case. In 
a miracle we have convincing proof of the presence of a power 



sect, x.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 371 

that is superior to nature; that is to say, it is infinite. The 
nature of the miracles, and their relations to natural events and 
rational communications, indicate that Power to be a moral In- 
telligence. It is assumed as a self-evident proposition, that the 
works of any agent will be such as to correspond with the cha- 
racteristics of his nature ; — that as he is, so will he act. Hence 
the conclusion is deduced that the divine agency will not be 
exerted except in a way correspondent with the nature of God ; 
and therefore that the interposition of his immediate hand, in 
concurrence and co-operation with the agency of an intelligent 
creature, is the pledge and seal of his approval of that agency. 
Thus, when Moses smote the Eed Sea, and the waters of it 
divided and stood up as a wall on the one hand and the other, 
this exertion of almighty power evinced God's approval of the 
act of Moses and of his expectation thus to cross the Red Sea. 
Our Saviour habitually appealed to this principle, in proof of 
his commission from the Father. " The works that I do in my 
Father's name, they bear witness of me." "If I do not the 
works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye 
believe not me, believe the works ; that ye may know and believe 
that the Father is in me, and I in him." — John x. 25, 37, 38. 
Again, he says, " If I had not done among them the works which 
none other man did, they had not had sin." — John xv. 24. Here 
the principle is assumed as fundamental and unquestionable, that 
the miraculous co-operation of infinite power, in immediate 
connection with human agency, is conclusive evidence of God's 
approval and sanction to that agency. But this principle can- 
not be true, if it be a fact that souls are immediate creations ; 
unless we are prepared to abandon all moral distinctions as to 
the sexual relations, and admit that every instance of fruitful 
intercourse has the distinct and miraculous seal of God's ap- 
proval. This fatal objection is applicable to every form of the 
creation theory. If it be maintained that all souls were created 
at the beginning, and that they are from time to time inserted 
in the bodies, — this latter act calls for as signal an exertion of 
God's own immediate power as would the incarnation of an 
angel. The other alternative, — that the souls are created from 



372 The Eloltlm Revealed. [chap. xi. 

time to time as the bodies become ready to receive them, — is ex 
professo the introduction of a miraculous occurrence. 

The only way that we can conceive in which the attempt may 
be made to evade this conclusion, is by the assumption that there 
are two classes of miracles, — the one conveying the assurance of 
God's sanction to the agency with which the miracle is identified ; 
the other serving to supplement the inadequacy of second causes. 
But such a distinction must be purely arbitrary. In all in- 
stances of miracles, the essential characteristics are the same. 
They all consist in effects to which the operation of second causes 
is inadequate. And if in any case it may be assumed that the 
supernatural power is put forth in concurrence with agencies 
and actions which have" not the approval of the infinite One, the 
result is, to leave us utterly without any means of knowing what 
he does approve. If the immediate power of God may be im- 
plicated in concurrence with an act of human licentiousness, it 
will be utterly impossible to prove that it may not be implicated 
in a similar way in connection with falsehood or imposture. If 
it be said, that a previous declaration that God's poAver is about 
to be interposed, is essential to the evidence involved in a mi- 
racle; and that the design of the interposition is to testify his 
endorsement of the human instrumentality, — it will not relieve 
the case ; for, in the first place, such announcement was not 
always made in connection with the miracles recorded in the 
Scriptures. As an illustration of a large class, let the reader 
take the occurrence recorded in John xii. 28, 30. Jesus said, 
" Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from hea- 
ven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. . . . 
Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, 
but for your sakes." In the second place, if this assumption be 
true, it will follow that it would be impossible for an impostor 
to beget children; should he announce that as the proof of his 
possessing divine authority. 

Allusion has already been made to the argument deducible 
I 12. Cause from the transmission of intellectual and moral 
and effect. traits from parents to their children. This conside- 
ration is entitled to much greater weight than, at first glance, 



sect, xi.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 373 

the reader may be disposed to imagine. God, in forming the 
creation, not only instituted the relation of cause and effect, but 
enstamped upon the creatures such constitutions that the effect 
always bears traces of the cause; by means of which we may 
determine that a given effect is the proof of the operation of a 
specific cause. Thus, when we find the beams of light daily ir- 
radiating our world, and observe the various phenomena which 
occur in connection with this daily illumination, we unhesita- 
tingly conclude the existence of a vast luminary at the centre 
of the solar system. When a man plunges his knife into the 
heart of another, the whole character of the act is dependent, — not 
merely upon the reality of the law of cause and effect, — but upon 
the antecedent assurance that the wound and death which follow 
are effects of the act and decisive proofs of its occurrence. When 
the Psalmist asserts that the heavens declare the glory of God 
and the firmament showeth his handiwork, — and when the 
apostle testifies that the heathen world is inexcusable in failing 
to recognise the God thus revealed, — they both go upon the as- 
sumption, that the inscriptions which we thus read in the 
book of nature are records of unquestionable truth. In fact, 
as we need not here pause to show, all the proof that we have 
of the existence of God or of any thing else, is dependent upon 
the entire reliability of these inscriptions in nature, which, in 
the various effects there perceived, announce the operation of 
definite and proportionate causes. The operation of this prin- 
ciple we trace with unerring certainty, and recognise without 
hesitation, in the bodies of men. If we meet with a person in 
whom we recognise the form and features, the colour and hair, 
and all the physical characteristics, of the African tribes, we do 
not hesitate to conclude that he is the offspring of African 
parents ; and upon this conclusion we should rest and act with 
the most implicit confidence. And this confidence is based upon 
our belief that the physical traits which we thus recognise, are 
inscriptions by the finger of God, certifying that the person 
derives his being from a source like himself. 

If this argument is valid in respect to the body, its value can 
be no less as applied to the soul. We shall not pause a moment, 



374 The Elolrim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

to prove that the intellectual and moral peculiarities of parents 
are clearly traceable in their children. It is a fact attested by- 
universal experience, and acknowledged by universal consent. 
Our conclusion is, that the soul of the child, thus clearly marked 
with the parental lineaments, derives its origin from the parents 
of whom it is a copy. It is true, as it may be argued, that God 
could inscribe this likeness, in creating the soul. But the ques- 
tion is not, whether his power is equal to this ; but, whether it is 
consistent with his truth and wisdom, to inscribe a falsehood on 
the nature of the child, — a falsehood which renders the proof of 
his own existence impossible, and utterly confounds all the rela- 
tions of the creatures to each other and to him. For, if the 
parental lineaments on the soul of the child are no proof of a 
causative relation between the parents and that soul, it must be 
upon the ground that the indications of cause w T hich nature 
contains are not reliable; and, if this be true, their indications 
of the existence of God may be false. If we should find, at the 
depth of fifty feet beneath the surface of the ground, a tree, with 
roots, stock and branches, and every characteristic to correspond 
with those which stand in the surrounding forests, we would 
feel that he was trifling, who should insist that it was made and 
placed in its position at the first by the finger of God. We should 
ask, " Why did God enstamp on my nature that intuitive re- 
cognition of the relation of cause and effect, by which I am im- 
pelled unavoidably, in the presence of these facts, to recognise 
the operation of certain second causes ? As he is Truth, these 
facts testify to me the truth; and demand the recognition of 
proportionate and corresponding second causes in this instance." 
So, in the case of the soul; — God has given man a generative 
nature, in common with the whole vegetable and animal world. 
Everywhere the law is, that like begets like. Man is an intel- 
lectual moral agent, — a sinner. His Maker says to him, " Be 
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." His children 
are born in his image, in body and soul ; — like him in a depravity 
which is predicable of nothing but the soul. Upon the whole 
case thus exhibited, God's own word utters the demand, " Who 
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one." Yet, with 



sect, xii.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 375 

all this, we are asked to believe that nothing but the body pro- 
ceeds from the parents, — that the soul comes from the hand of 
Him, all whose works are very good ! Is it possible to reconcile 
this with the integrity and steadfastness of the testimonies of 
nature, which declare the existence of God himself? If nature 
be chargeable with deception in the one case, how can we safely 
trust her in the other ? 

Opponents appeal to the doctrine of justification, and the 
parallel between it and that of original sin. But, in fact, here lies 
the strength of our argument. We have already seen the parallel 
run; and the argument will unfold itself more fully when we 
come to speak of the person and work of Christ. 

The reviewer above quoted, in opposition to the doctrine here 
espoused, urges that "the reader should suspect its soundness, 
213 Difficult f rom the ease with which it professes to brush away 
on original all the perplexities of a really difficult subject," — 
sin - that of the propagation of depravity. We have 

not adopted our opinion on this subject, on account of the relief 
which it affords from the greatest difficulties which encumber 
the doctrine of original sin; but, because we think it is taught 
in the word of God. We submit it, however, to the judgment 
of the reader, whether a theory, the only apology for which is 
that it avoids certain fancied philosophical difficulties, is to be 
therefore adopted, because it originates still greater ones, on a 
fundamental topic of theology; — difficulties which are constantly 
developing Pelagian tendencies in the church of God. The em- 
barrassment arising from this cause, has been continually real- 
ized, from the time of Augustine; and has given abundant 
exercise to metaphysical ingenuity, in the vain attempt to recon- 
cile the contradictions which occur between the creation theory 
and the scriptural doctrine of original sin. 

Says an old writer, "Augustine could not solve all those diffi- 
culties which the Pelagians raised against original sin, unless he 
held the traduction of the soul. He could not perceive how the 
candle should be so soyl'd, if it were lighted only by a pure sun- 
beam fetcht from heaven. Yet that knot, which so skilful and 
laborious a hand could not unty, some others have easily cut 



376 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

asunder; and, indeed, there is no such cogency and pre valency 
in that argument as can justly promise itself the victory. For 
the schoolmen, that are strong asserters of the soul's creation, 
do satisfie all such doubts as these."* The sophistries of 
the Pelagianizing schoolmen of the church of Eome have 
constituted the common resource of all those writers who have 
espoused the creation theory. It is not, therefore, surprising 
that the doctrine thus constructed should prove irreconcilable 
with the Scriptures on the subject. In respect to the propaga- 
tion of original sin, orthodox divines are unanimous in declaring 
that, "in general terms, it is through a defiled generation, by 
which those who are corrupt and sinners are born of corrupt 
and sinful parents. For, as a man begets a man, and a leper a 
leper, it is not wonderful if a sinner beget a child a sinner like 
himself. This, both nature, and the condition of all propagating 
animals, show. They all beget offspring like themselves in 
species, both as to the substance and accidents of species ; and the 
law of propagation, established by God as well before as after 
the fall, (Gen. ix. 1,) demands it. As therefore before the fall 
God willed the upright nature to be propagated ; so, after the 
fall, the nature corrupted. "f Of the whole doctrine of original 
sin we shall treat in the next chapters. At present, it is enough 
for our argument, that among the Reformed churches there is 
no question, as to the fact that we sinned in our first parents, 
and fell with them in their first transgression ; and that we derive 
from them, by ordinary generation, both the guilt of the apos- 
tasy, and depravity of nature. We have only space to glance at 
the argument which grows out of the fact, that whilst the view 
which we hold as to the origin of the soul is perfectly consistent 
with the doctrine of the Scriptures on original sin, and exhibits 
that doctrine — our opponents themselves being judges — unen- 
cumbered with any serious embarrassment; — on the other hand, 
their own theory is encompassed with difficulties, which are en- 
tirely insurmountable, by their own confession, — still more at the 



* Culverwell on the Light of Nature, 1652, p. 91. 
| Turrettin., Locus IX. Qu. xii. 2. 



sect, xiii.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 377 

bar of impartial judgment. Of them, Turrettin says, that " some 
have supposed there was no better way of removing them, than 
by the generation of the soul; which not a few of the ancients 
believed; and Augustine himself appeared more than once to lean 
that way. ISTor is there any question but that, upon this theory, 
every difficulty seems to be removed. But, because, as we have 
already shown, that opinion corresponds neither with Scripture 
nor sound reason, and is exposed to many objections, we cannot 
accede to it."* 

But, on the other hand, after a laborious attempt to meet and 
master the objections which present themselves to his own 
theory, he closes by the protestation, that " although every diffi- 
culty which occurs to this way of explaining the propagation 
of original sin, should not seem to be removed, the reality of 
that propagation, which is so plainly asserted in Scripture, and 
confirmed by experience, is to be none the less firmly held; 
nor, if we are unable to trace the manner of it, are we therefore 
to deny or doubt the fact. Here, it is sufficient, with Augustine, 
to recognise that the manner of it, whatever it be, is just; and 
to acknowledge that it is incomprehensible, "f Equally strong 
is the testimony of Pictet : — " As to the manner in which original 
sin is propagated, it is a most difficult question, in resolving 
which, divines have always laboured, and will always labour, 
without being able to satisfy themselves. "J So much therefore 
is unquestionable. On the admission that the soul is created, 
the doctrine of original sin becomes altogether inexplicable. 
We ask, Can more than this be said, by way of objection to 
the doctrine of the o-eneration of the whole man? 

o 

But this theory not only renders the doctrine of original sin 
inexplicable. It is in fact irreconcilably hostile to that doc- 
's u. Creation trine. If the soul be an immediate creation of God, 
theory on it. two conclusions are unavoidable. The first is, that 
the souls of Adam's posterity were not in him at all; and, con- 
sequently, did not and could not sin in him, nor fall in him. The 
second is, that they cannot be originally depraved. The works 

* Turrettin., Locus IX. Qu. xii. 6. f Ibid. $ 18. 

% Pictet's Theology, Book IV. Ch. v. 



378 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

of God cannot but be, like him, good. And it is impossible that 
moral agents, created immediately by him, should come from his 
hand corrupt. To suppose it so, would be to charge God with 
being the author of depravity and sin. The inquirer who will 
search the pages of the most orthodox writers, that have at- 
tempted to reconcile the difficulties here suggested, will find 
nothing but a strange mixture of Pelagian and Manichean 
theories, veiled under the subtleties of the scholastic terminology. 
In respect to the fact that, if the soul is an immediate creation, 
it was not in Adam, we are told that, "although the souls were 
not in Adam, as to origin of essence, because they are created 
by God, they are rightly said to have been in him, as to origin 
of subsistence, so far forth as they were to be joined to bodies as 
constituent parts of those persons who are sons of Adam, and 
who therefore in this respect are rightly accounted guilty in 
Adam."* That is to say, it was the design of God, at the time 
of the creation of Adam, to create a series of souls out of nothing 
by his own sole and immediate power, and cause them to dwell 
for a time in clay, which should hold a sort of vegetative relation 
to that in which the souls which apostatized in the garden dwelt. 
Therefore, it may be truly said that our souls were in those 
apostates, and sinned in them, and are now therefore guilty ! Is 
such the idea which God's word gives of the extent of our rela- 
tion to Adam ; and responsibility for his sin ? Is this the doc- 
trine of the Reformed confessions ? That which saves the state- 
ment from self-convicted absurdity is the obscure terminology 
in which the doctrine is clothed. To say that we were not in 
Adam as to essence, but were so as to subsistence, has a sound 
which may pass for something more, if not too closely examined. 
And yet even the speciousness of this phraseology is dependent 
upon a false assumption. The theory which it purports to state 
is inconsistent even with the position that we were in Adam as 
to origin of subsistence. For it is a part of the doctrine that 
God, and not Adam, was the cause of our subsistence, by inserting 
the newly-created souls into the bodies. 

* Turrettin., Locus IX. Qu. xii. 10. 



sect, xiv.] Extent of Adam's Parental Relation. 379 

As to the difficulty in respect to the propagation of depravity, 
on the supposition of the creation of the soul, orthodox writers 
vacillate between a Manichean ascription of the original cor- 
ruption to the body, — a covert reference of it to God as the 
author, — and a scholastic semi-Pelagianism, which represents the 
soul as created neither holy nor unholy, and attributes its ulti- 
mate depravity to surrounding circumstances. The first theory 
alluded to, has a singular similarity to the heresy of Manes, not 
only in attributing moral depravity to the corporeal frame, as 
such ; but, also, in the recognition of an element in the constitu- 
tion of man, which is neither corporeal nor purely spiritual. It 
is variously designated, as> "the animal and vital spirits," — "the 
dispositions of the body," — "the system of bodily appetites and 
propensities, with the fancy and imagination." These are not 
allowed to be attributes of the soul; for, whilst the soul is de- 
scribed as created, and without native impurity, these are re- 
cognised as descending from Adam, depraved, and operating to 
the depravation of the soul. On the other hand, they certainly 
are not matter, nor phenomena of mere matter. In both this 
and the heresy of Manes, there is the same contrast of the im- 
mediately divine original of the soul, as compared with that of 
the body. In both, there is the same doctrine of the soul's 
essential and original freedom from moral evil. In both, there 
is the same attributing of it to the material body ; and the same 
associating with it of a tertium quid, which Manes represented as 
a sensuous soul, and the modern theory designates by the names 
of its several attributes, but describes in terms which identify 
it as the same. In both, this and the body are the agencies 
which embrace the soul as in a prison, and bring it under an 
involuntary and necessary defilement and guilt. "They having 
become irregular, excessive, and perverted by the fall," says a 
highly respectable writer, "do unavoidably corrupt the soul, and 
enslave it to sin." 

The theory that the souls were, at their first creation, neither 
pure nor impure, but simply not-pure, involves and grew out of 
an entirely false conception as to the true nature of original 
righteousness and depravity. Says Luther, " The schoolmen 



380 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

argue that original righteousness was not connatural ; that is, 
not a part of human nature as originally created ; but a certain 
ornament only, additionally bestowed upon man as a separate 
gift; — just as if we should place a garland on the head of a 
beautiful maiden. A garland is, certainly, no part of the 
nature of a virgin, but a something added from without, and 
might be taken away again without any violation of her nature. 
These schoolmen, therefore, argue, both concerning man and 
concerning devils also, that, although they lost their original 
righteousness, yet their natural properties remained pure as 
they were originally created. This doctrine, however, as it 
takes from the magnitude of original sin, is to be shunned as 
a deadly poison."* Thus justly does the illustrious Eeformer 
characterize this Komish corruption of scriptural doctrine. Yet 
is it the very theory to which recourse is had in the present 
instance. The soul is created in a not-pure state; that is, 
neither holy nor depraved. But what does this mean ? A soul, 
in whatever condition, is a creature, invested with certain at- 
tributes, which must hold specific and clearly defined relations to 
the law of God. If active the law demands conformity of action 
to its precept. If inactive or quiescent, still does the law 
assert its authority, demanding that the attitude of the powers 
shall be in conformity with its holiness. To talk of a soul 
which has not a moral nature, is absurd. To describe a creature 
possessed of a moral nature, which yet sustains no specific re- 
lation to the moral law, is a contradiction in terms. To imagine 
such a creature occupying a position of neutrality as respects 
the obligations of the law thus laying hold of its nature, is 
equally absurd. An irrational beast, a stock, or a stone, may 
be merely not-pure. For all that the phrase can mean is, that 
moral relations are not predicable of it. But in no stage in the 
existence of the human soul, neither in the order of thought, 
nor in fact, can it be otherwise than responsible to the law, and, 
therefore, in an attitude of conformity or of non-conformity to 
it. It must be either pure or impure. 

* Luther on the first five chapters of Genesis, Edinburgh, 1858, p. 220. 



sect, xiv.] Extent of Adams Parental Relation. 381 

We cannot pursue the subject in further detail. The whole 
theory ; however explained, involves the entire severance of the 
race from Adam, and the denial that we either were in him, or 
sinned in him, or are depraved by the propagation of his cor- 
ruption. This is implicitly admitted by Van Mastricht, when 
he says, " Augustine, of old, and many of the fathers, many 
of the Lutherans, and some of the Reformed, because they 
could not otherwise conceive of the propagation of original cor- 
ruption, supposed it to be by seminal traduction, by which the 
whole man, and therefore both body and soul alike, is propa- 
gated. The first error of these all is this, that they suppose 
corruption, numerically the same with Adam's, to be propa- 
gated; whereas it is only the same in species."* If it is not 
numerically the same, it comes not to us from him. Its origin 
is not, then, in him. He was only the first sinner in order of 
time. The alternative is, that each soul successively apostatizes ; 
or, that they are created corrupt. Such are the inconsistencies 
to which the most orthodox writers are led, when they attempt 
to vindicate the creation theory, in consistency with the testi- 
mony of the Scriptures respecting the nature of man. This 
same excellent and orthodox divine, when expounding the doc- 
trine of original sin, and defending it against Pelagian objec- 
tions, entirely forgets the position here taken. In reply to the 
assertion that " we neither existed, nor consented to Adam's 
sin," he says, " But we did exist, and consent, and sin, in our 
cause, in the one Adam. Eom. v. 12. They object that the sin 
itself does not exist, and therefore cannot be imputed. But, 
although it does not exist physically, yet it does exist morally, 
in the same sense in which any sins, the physical action being 
past, remain morally, "f "We leave the reader to determine 
how, these latter positions being true, the other can stand; or 
the soul be recognised as a new creation of a holy God. 
§ 15. Eeca- We might pursue the subject further. But we 
pituiation. trust it is already apparent how little is gained, and 
at what a disproportionate cost, by denying the generation of 

* Van Mastricht, Lib. ir. cap. ii. \ 35. f Ibid. \ 24. 



382 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

the whole man, and asserting the creation of the human soul. 
A doctrine, more encumbered with insuperable difficulties, it 
seems to us, could hardly be imagined. At the outset, it strips 
the soul of moral agency and accountability in the attempt to 
divest it of that moral purity, of which, if the immediate 
workmanship of God, it must be possessed. By way of com- 
pensation for this extraordinary representation, it exhibits the 
body as a moral agent, invested with a depravity which does 
not consist in perverted reason, conscience or will, — for it has 
none of these ; which does not consist in hostility to the law, — for 
the law is addressed to intelligence and will ; — a depravity which 
is, by admission, not properly predicable of the body at all ; and 
which is confessedly existent no otherwise than inchoate and in 
a latent tendency. This latent and inconceivable depravity of 
the body, it nevertheless clothes with such power as to defile the 
soul, by an influence, which, although exerted by mere matter, 
is denied to be a physical force ; and, although there is no possible 
intervening instrumentality, is denied to be an immediate influ- 
ence. Forgetful of the necessity of a suitable subject of which 
to predicate them, appetites and passions, dispositions and imagi- 
nation, are recognised as descending from Adam, by natural genera- 
tion ; and are called in to aid the body in depraving the soul ; — thus 
reducing the advocates of this scheme to the dilemma of attri- 
buting these to the mere body, — which is materialism ; of ac- 
knowledging that, belonging to the soul, they with it descend 
from Adam ; or of taking refuge in the Manichean fiction of a 
sensuous soul, belonging to the body, and distinct from the pure 
and heaven-originated spirit. It attributes to the body, in con- 
junction with the appetites and imagination, a creative power, 
in the production of new and depraved forces, to the eradication 
of which, the infinite power of the Holy Spirit is requisite. The 
in-being in Adam, of which the Scriptures so unequivocally 
speak, is, in the crucible of this theory, reduced to the inane 
idea, that, having been in the mind of God designed to occupy 
bodies derived from Adam's body, the souls of all the human 
family may, therefore, be said to have been in Adam; although 
he was neither the cause of their essence nor subsistence ; of the 



sect, zv.] Extent of Adam s Parental Relation. 383 

first of which, God was the creative cause, and of the second, 
the efficient, by uniting them to their bodies. In short, the 
whole aspect of the case is that of a deadly struggle between 
the theory here set forth and the doctrine of the Scriptures on 
our relation to Adam ; — a struggle in which, by the assistance of 
subtle distinctions and definitions, the terms of the Bible doctrine 
are permitted to stand, but robbed of their true significance. It 
cannot be a matter of surprise, that, in such circumstances, it 
should continually happen, that wherever a philosophic spirit is 
developed, this antagonism is brought into action; and the 
weapons here furnished are turned against the doctrine of original 
sin. Pelagianism is not the only form of heresy. The doctrine 
concerning the nature of man is not the only doctrine to which 
the carnal mind is naturally hostile. And yet this has been the 
starting-point of almost every defection which has occurred in 
the Keformed church. "Whatever the ultimate shape which here- 
sies have assumed, the first step has almost invariably been 
some form of error on the subject of original sin. We are per- 
suaded that the secret of this is to be traced to the theory of the 
creation of the soul and propagation of sin, here examined. 

We have glanced at a few passages of the Scriptures in which 
our doctrine is formally asserted, or involved by direct and in- 
evitable implication. But it would be an utter mistake to 
imagine that the Scripture argument in its favour is limited to 
a series of minute criticisms upon isolated passages in the Bible. 
On the contrary, the idea of the derivation of our entire being 
from our parents runs through every part of the book, and re- 
appears continually in every variety of form. From the nature 
of the case, we are cut off from this aspect of the argument. 
To its elucidation volumes would be requisite, instead of a few 
pages. The doctrine in question constantly occurs in the histo- 
rical scriptures, either in the way of formal statement, or of 
allusion, as to an unquestioned and unquestionable fact. In 
the poetic books, whether narrative, prophetic, or devotional, 
whether prayer or praise, it everywhere presents itself; at one 
time, the theme of admiring contemplation in reference to the 
wonderful nature of the phenomena, and at another the subject 



384 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xi. 

of penitential confession in view of the corruption so derived. 
In the doctrinal scriptures, it is made the basis of the whole 
doctrine of our ruin and the whole system of grace. They 
everywhere predicate it, as fundamental to all the representa- 
tions and arguments which they exhibit on these subjects. This 
doctrine is thus inwrought into the very texture of the Bible ; 
recurring continually, without any caution whatever, by which 
the begetting asserted should be limited to the body ; but, on the 
contrary, contemplating the moral nature much more than the 
physical. On the other hand, but a single passage — Heb. xii. 
9 — is adduced from the whole Bible, which it can be pretended 
even seems to look the other way. And in that case the seem- 
ing is consequent upon a forced interpretation, at variance with 
the accustomed meaning of the language employed, as well as 
with the analogy of Scripture, thus so complete. We make this 
statement, because it must be evident to any candid interpreter, 
that the scriptures which merely declare God to be the maker 
of the soul, are no more conclusive to the purpose for which 
they are usually cited on this subject, than would be the addition 
of those which speak with at least equal emphasis of the body, 
to prove that both body and soul are the immediate workman- 
ship of God, and that the human species is not propagated by 
generation at all ! 

Add the fact, that orthodox opposers of our doctrine admit its 
truth in legal intendment, and predicate its constructive verity 
as the fundamental basis, upon which rests the whole system of 
God's dealings with our ruined and apostate world. In view 
of these considerations, to which we might add many others, 
we feel fully justified in planting ourselves firmly upon the 
position, that the entire being of the child, body and soul, in its 
unity, is derived by generation from the parents ; — that our 
whole nature, in all its elements, flows to us from the first 
parents of the race. This we take to be the unambiguous tes- 
timony of the whole word of God. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE APOSTASY OF ADAM. 

The rich endowments with which Adam was crowned, and 
the condescending grace with which he was dealt, were unavail- 
3 1 Hew could ^ n S t° n °ld hhn to integrity. In regard to the fall 
a holy being of our first parents, we shall not attempt to show 
f al1 ? how sin entered into the world. No man can explain 

how the first unholy emotion could find lodgment in the heart 
of a holy being, — angel or man ; or how suggestions of sin could 
constitute temptation to the holy; since it would seem that, 
to exert any power, they must appeal to unholy propensities ; 
which as yet had no existence. ISTo system of theology, nor 
scheme of deism, can solve this problem. The fact stands at- 
tested, not only by the word of God, but by the whole history 
of man. It all proclaims him to be a fallen being; once exalted 
in dignity and purity, but now sinful, degraded and lost. But, 
how this could be, is one of the hidden things of God. 

The attempt is sometimes made to explain the apostasy, by 
the assumption, that a proclivity to defection is of the very nature 
of created beings ; and that therefore apostasy was the inevitable 
consequence of the withholding of special divine support from 
Adam. But the supposition will not bear a moment's examina- 
tion. The creatures possess precisely those powers which God 
has conferred, and no others. To suppose a downward tendency 
to be essential to them, is to charge, that God, in making them, 
has incorporated in their being a perverse energy, by which they 
are forced astray. But this is absurd and blasphemous. What- 
ever God made was very good, — an epithet which applies to 
every faculty and every attribute of the creatures, as they pro- 
ceeded from his hand. To say that he implanted in them a dis- 

25 385 



386 The Eloltim Revealed. [chap. xii. 

position to turn from him, which it requires his own omnipotence 
to restrain, is to make Adam to have been created, not holy, but 
depraved ; and God to be the author of man's apostasy and sins. 
Whilst, however, we know not how a being, created holy, could 
be turned aside to sin, thus much we do know, — that man's 
apostasy came to pass through the free agency of our first 
parents. They were created with a nature which was cha- 
racterized by affinities of various kinds. Some of these soared 
upward toward the Holy One, and found satisfaction and growth 
in contemplations of his glory, in praises of his attributes, and 
communion with him by the Spirit. These holy affinities were 
endowed with an original strength and vigour, which gave them 
the mastery over the whole being. Yet was not theirs such a 
preponderance as was absolutely overwhelming, — such a mastery 
as implied undisputed supremacy, and confirmed dominion. If 
Adam is ever established in holiness, it must be not, by a creative 
endowment, to him involuntary, and therefore without merit or 
honour; but through constant vigilance, and a diligent use of 
the faculties which he possessed, and improvement of the means 
which were within his reach, — the study of the Creator's cha- 
racter, communion with him, and recourse to his Spirit for 
strength. Contrasted, but not opposed, to these, were another 
class of affinities, which laid hold of the world, the creatures and 
self, in an embrace, vigorous, though inferior in strength to that 
which went forth to God. These affinities, and the affections and 
emotions which were correspondent with them, were in them- 
selves right; and were designed and perfectly adapted to sub- 
serve man's happiness, and to the fulfilment of his great end, — 
his Maker's honour. But these principles are thus innocent and 
safe, only so long as they wait in subservience to the higher 
considerations of God's love and glory. The assumption by 
them of the sceptre and the throne, is of itself apostasy from 
God; it is, to worship and serve the creature more than the 
Creator ; and inasmuch as the claim of God to the supremacy is 
persistent and uncompromising, and therefore utterly inconsist- 
ent with the supremacy of earthly things, — the result is, not 
merely inferior love, but hostility to God, and an utter refusal 



sect, i.] The Apostasy of Adam. 387 

of all allegiance to him. Thus, although heavenly principles 
were implanted in Adam, and placed on the throne of his nature, 
they were not made independent of culture and care; nor in- 
vested with a power which might not be broken, through neglect 
and sloth. Whilst other principles were associated with these, 
and even innocence might indulge in earthly enjoyments and 
the pleasures of sense, it must be with a moderation and wisdom, 
to appreciate them at their true and subordinate value ; and with 
a watchfulness and care proportionate to the greatness of the 
interests at stake, and the danger that these lawful but powerful 
inmates of the heart may become usurpers of its throne. 

Thus was Adam constituted in the day of his creation. Two 
sets of principles fill the balances in his heart. And, although 
the kindness and love of his Maker has, with creative hand, given 
the claims of God and holiness a superior weight, which presses 
down the scale, yet does he not thus, by mere sovereignty, seal 
the nature and control the liberty of his creature. Man himself 
is placed upon the throne and invested with a royal freedom, 
by his own choice to determine his character, and at his discre- 
tion to fix his own eternal destiny. He was endowed with per- 
fect holiness and rectitude, and with a free will, which, whilst 
perfectly competent, in the use of the appropriate means, to 
continuance in uprightness, was unlimited in the alternative set 
before him, — to choose the evil or the good, the blessing or the 
curse. The tempter comes, and with wily art suits his seduc- 
tions to the nature of his victims. He appeals to innocent appe- 
tites. He only persuades to criminal indulgence. To Eve's 
love of beauty he presents the tree " beautiful to the eye." To 
her sensual appetite he urges that it is "good for food." Her 
ambition is fired by the assurance, "Ye shall be as gods," and 
her thirst for knowledge by the mystic virtue of the fruit, " to 
be desired to make one wise." Her fears are hushed by his 
swearing to the lie that they " shall not surely die." Her senses, 
excited in view of the seen and attractive object, render her all 
unconscious of the presence of the holy and unseen God ; and 
the ardour of her appetites, aroused and burning for sensual 
pleasure, induces entire forgetfulness of the higher pleasures 



388 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xii. 

realized in his service, and the superior joys flowing from his 
smile. The temptation finds lodging in the breast of hapless 
Eve. " When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to 
make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat ; and 
gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." — Gen. 
iii. 6. Thus the appetites plead; conscience is hushed; holy 
considerations are forgotten ; the reason weighs ; the choice is 
made ; the fatal fruit is plucked ; and man is fallen ! Of the 
process of Adam's overthrow, we have not so detailed an account. 
Enough, however, is revealed to enable us to see that, although 
different in the form of assault, the temptation was essentially 
the same in its nature. To her it comes in the guise of beautiful 
fruit ; to him, in the form of his lovely wife. Shall he forego all 
the sweets of her companionship ? Shall he cast her out of the 
temple of his affections as an unclean and accursed thing, — an 
abhorring to his soul ? Or, contemning the sovereignty of God, 
defying his wrath, and refusing his favour and his love, shall he 
join in her sin, and so share her doom, whatever it be? The 
fatal choice is made ; and man, for love of woman, turns his back 
on God. Thus " our first parents, being left to the freedom of 
their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, 
by sinning against God." 

In the transgression of our first parents, two things are to be 
carefully distinguished ; viz., the heart sin and the overt act, — the 
§ 2. Process apostasy, and its first fruit. The law of God had 
of the opos- been already violated ; man was fallen before the fruit 
tasy ' had been plucked, or the rebellion thus signalized. 

The law not only required outward obedience, but especially 
claimed the fealty of the heart ; and this was withdrawn before 
any outward token had indicated the sad change. That Eve 
well understood this heart-searching demand of the divine law, 
is clearly evidenced by her reply to the serpent's insidious inter- 
rogatory about the tree. The tempter said to the woman, " Yea, 
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? 
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit 
of the trees of the garden ; but of the fruit of the tree which 



sect, i.] The Apostasy of Adam. 389 

is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of 
it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." — Gen. iii. 1-3. In refer- 
ence to this reply of Eve, a certain writer absurdly remarks that 
''Eve's first sin was lying; for God had not forbidden them to 
touch the tree." On the contrary, her language truly expresses 
the force of the divine requirement, as forbidding the allowance 
of a covetous emotion, or a desiring approach to the forbidden 
object. Equally without reason seems to be Henry's supposition 
that the serpent " took advantage by finding Eve near the for- 
bidden tree, and probably gazing upon the fruit of it, onlv to 
satisfy her curiosity. They that would not eat the forbidden 
fruit must not come near the forbidden tree," The form of the 
question of Satan, which is evidently framed for the purpose of 
calling her attention to the tree, shows her not to have been at 
the time in the act of gazing upon it. " Yea, hath God said, Ye 
shall not eat of every tree?" He does not say, " of this tree." 
So, too, the terms in which, in her reply, she describes the tree, 
show her not to have been immediately by it so as to look upon 
it : — " Of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, [not " of 
this tree,"] God hath said." So far from the fact of Eve being 
supposed near the tree implying any thing improper or un- 
guarded, it was the duty of the pair to cultivate that, as well 
as all other parts of the garden, and, if need be, to dress and 
keep that, as well as the other trees. Temptation is to be 
avoided, not by flying from the path of duty, but in that path, 
by watchfulness and prayer. Thus far Eve has not only main- 
tained her integrity, but, by the recollection and statement alike 
of God's beneficent care and his just command, has recognised 
her obligations, and rendered transgression inexcusable. 

The first criminal emotion which stirred in her heart would 
seem to have been dissatisfaction with the endowments, temporal 
and spiritual, which she and her husband enjoyed from the hands 
of the gracious Creator. The luxuriant fruitfulness of a virgin 
world, and the delicious treasures of a garden planted by God, 
were poured at their feet. Their home was adorned with the 
attractions of " every tree that was pleasant to the sight." The 
animal tribes were made obedient to their will ; and God himself 



390 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xii. 

condescended to be their instructor, companion and friend. 
Earth full of delights was their present possession; and life 
eternal in heaven their prospective inheritance. Yet all these 
rich blessings were now disesteemed by the foolish heart of our 
falling mother. All was not enough to secure perfect content 
and convey complete happiness, whilst one object presented itself 
which God reserved as his own. 

The next step was, doubt as to the truthfulness of God. He 
had declared, " In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt 
surely die." This declaration was present to her memory, and 
repeated by her to the serpent. The tempter ventures, in most 
arrogant and atrocious terms, to charge the Holy One not only 
with falsehood, but with an imbecile jealousy and fraud, lest his 
creatures should attain to the exaltation of godhead, in deroga- 
tion of his divinity. And Eve believed the lie, impious and 
absurd though it was, and disbelieved the testimony of her 
Maker, the pledges of whose love shone all around her. 

Immediately there sprang up in her an atrocious wish and 
hope of independence of the wisdom and authority of God. 
Satan assured her that the reason of the threatening of death 
was, that God knew that the fruit would make them as gods. 
And, belief in God's truth and reverence for his authority 
being lost, no falsehood is too preposterous for belief, and no as- 
piration too lofty or too impious to be cherished. "The woman 
saw that it was a tree to be desired to make one wise," to "be 
as gods;" and "she took thereof and did eat; and gave also to 
her husband with her, and he did eat." Thus aspiring after a 
knowledge independent of God, and forbidden by him, and aim- 
ing at an elevation of rank to equality with him, they gained 
the hapless discovery of intellects clouded, of holiness lost, of 
happiness forfeited, and of ruin incurred. Instead of becoming 
as gods, they lost their former fellowship with God, and became 
as devils, cast down in sin to misery and woe. 

In short, the position of our first parents was one of atheistic 
unbelief. Whilst they sought divinity for themselves, they 
denied it to be in God. By cherishing dissatisfaction with his 
dealings with them, they denied his perfect goodness. Their 



sect, ii.] The Apostasy of Adam. 391 

disbelief of the threatening was a denial that he was holy, just 
and true. In aspiring after divinity, they were guilty of re- 
garding him as one like themselves, with whom they might com- 
pete. And in seeking for happiness and aiming at elevation 
independent of him, they denied him to be the "all and in all;" 
they assumed that he was not the spring of their being, nor the 
alone fountain of existence and blessedness. Thus, either did 
they appeal to some other than the God that made them, as the 
Supreme, "by whom, and for whom, and through whom, and to 
whom, are all things;" or, they asserted a self-poised and un- 
created existence to themselves ; and claimed to be, already, what 
they at the same time strove to attain unto, — gods. 

The acts of intelligent creatures must spring from motives, — 
and those, such as are adequate to the character of the action. 
The emotions here indicated are clearly traceable in the history 
of the apostasy of Adam and Eve. Such motives are alone suf- 
ficient to account for the result, the coveting of a tree, whose 
untasted fruit constituted God's single reservation in giving 
them unlimited possession of all the world; — their violating a 
command of their Maker, most explicit and well understood; 
and venturing on a penalty, which was present to their minds, 
and assured them of infinite ruin following transgression, if God 
were indeed the infinite One. Thus, already apostate, the treason 
was sealed by their partaking of the forbidden fruit, — in that 
act communing in the sacrament of Jehovah's curse. Eve "took 
of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband 
with her, and he did eat." 

Of the process of Adam's overthrow, we have his own brief 
statement to his Judge : — " The woman whom thou gavest to be 
with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." — Gen. iii. 12. 
The apostle Paul states, that "Adam, was not deceived, but the 
woman being deceived was in the transgression." — 1 Tim. ii. 14. 
From these accounts, it would seem that Adam was not for a 
moment deceived by the fraud which had been committed on his 
wife. But rather, overcome by inordinate love to her, he deter- 
mined to share her fate. Thus he became the legitimate father 
of a race, who in all their generations are prone to "worship 



392 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xii. 

and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is over all, 
God blessed forever." 

There are several elements which are to be distinctly marked 
in estimating the evil of the first sin of Adam, 
g 3. Evil of 1. It involved the most shameful ingratitude. 

the apostasy. "What blessing which infinite wisdom and goodness 
could devise was not bestowed on them ? In the beauties of sur- 
rounding nature, — in the homage of the inferior tribes, — in the 
abundance, the variety and excellence of the fruits of the gar- 
den, — in the symmetry and vigour of their bodies, and the per- 
fection of all their senses, constituting avenues of perpetual 
pleasures, — in the nobility of immortal minds stamped with 
their Maker's image, — and, above all, in communion vouchsafed 
them with that Creator, — in every circumstance of their condi- 
tion, and every element of their nature, they found arguments 
of the perfect love of Him who had endowed them with being, 
and filled them with happiness ; — and who, in addition to all, had 
promised them translation to a still higher station, and more 
happy state, — to life in his own immediate presence in heaven. 
For all this goodness and grace, the Father of their spirits 
claims the poor return of acknowledgment that these are his 
gifts, — acknowledgment rendered, by respecting the reservation, 
from all the bounteous abundance of a teeming earth, of the 
fruit of a single tree. Thus Adam, by plucking the forbidden 
fruit was guilty of a most base and ungrateful denial of the 
obligations he was under to infinite goodness, and of robbing 
his Maker, not only of the meed of thankfulness for what was 
enjoyed, but, of the possession of what was reserved. 

2. It was a wicked distrust in God. Not simply that it im- 
plied unbelief in the threatening of death, and the promise of 
life. This it did involve ; but much more than this. It implied 
an utter apostasy from that filial and perfect confidence and trust, 
which a creature so circumstanced owed, not only by the motives 
of duty, but by the arguments of reason and the claims of gra- 
titude. It implied suspicion of the motives which induced the 
prohibition of the forbidden tree ; — suspicion including disbelief 
in the unapproachable infinitude of God, and in his perfect good- 



sect, ii.] The Apostasy of Adam. 393 

ness to man ; since it supposed him to reserve that tree, lest 
man by eating should attain to equality with him. It intimated 
a despair of finding in God that which could fully satisfy the 
wants of the soul. It was disbelief of the threatening, and dis- 
credit of the promise of eternal life ; and at the same time a dis- 
paragement of its excellence, and contempt of its offer. 

3. The sin of Adam was an act of atrocious rebellion. As 
maker, God had an unquestionable right to impose on his crea- 
tures what laws he saw fit. And, having imposed a law of un- 
exceptionable excellence, the command in regard to the tree 
involved in itself the whole law, all whose precepts concentrate 
themselves in the one essential duty of supreme love and obe- 
dience to God. The precept respecting the tree, constituted the 
only form in which the sovereignty of his Maker interposed, to 
limit the actions, or define the possessions, which he had lent to 
man. The act of transgression was therefore a conscious re- 
bellion of the parents of our race, against Him from whose crea- 
tive hand they had just sprung into being. And, as there is no 
middle ground in this matter, this act was an assault upon the 
very throne and divinity of God ; whom, first denying to be God, 
it next attempted to rob of the prerogatives, the homage and 
the sceptre of divinity. 

4. This implies another element which is clearly traceable in 
the history, — a proud and impious ambition. Not content with 
the inferior though blessed and privileged estate in which they 
were created, they claim a higher station. Not content with 
that image of God in which they shone, they aspire to Godhead 
itself. Not only is the authority of Jehovah set aside, but, as 
though that were not enough, the authority of man's own will 
is held paramount to that of his Maker. He " seats himself in 
the temple of God, and shows himself that he is God." 

Could we suppose that, when the heavenly hosts were assem- 
bled on the morning of their creation, and from amid an effulgent 
glory which proclaimed the presence of the Creator, the law, 
holy and good, was announced by his omnipotent voice, — as the 
radiant throng burst forth in adoring anthems of praise, one had 
been seen, among that bright and blessed throng, to cast away 



394 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xii. 

the harp of praise, to turn his back upon the throne of light, 
and attempt to usurp a position of dignity assigned to some loftier 
seraph, to wrest the harp from some more skilful hand, and attune 
it to other notes than those of Jehovah's praise ! — what horror 
would such conduct have inspired in the harmonious multitude ! 
How atrocious would his attitude appear ! "Would he not have 
stood justly chargeable with rebellion the most arrogant, with 
ingratitude the most odious, and impiety most atrocious? A 
creature, each moment of whose existence, and each element of 
whose enjoyments, flows from the beneficence of his Maker, — to 
rebel against his authority, although exercised with perfect holi- 
ness, and infinite kindness to him ! A creature, himself endowed 
with perfect happiness, and enriched with gifts bestowed from 
the treasures of God, — to despise those gifts and that happiness ; 
and repine because his Creator still claimed his homage, and as- 
serted and exercised his own most righteous sovereignty! A 
creature, whose existence is merely because it pleased God to 
give it, and whose annihilation would not cause one chord of the 
universal harmony to vibrate in less perfect unison to creation's 
mighty anthem of adoring praise, — impiously refusing to concur 
with the rest to the great and becoming end of all, the glory of 
the Maker, in the harmony, happiness and praise of his creatures ; 
and, as far as in his power, madly striving to thrust aside the 
blessed and only Potentate, and to set his own will and pleasure, 
his own ease and honour, instead of the will and glory of Him 
by whom and for whom are all things, and whose infinite power 
and goodness are the sole pledges of the rebel's existence! 
Would not all holy intelligences demand immediate and over- 
whelming punishment to the author of such wickedness ? 

Suppose the Creator to permit this example, unpunished, to 
spread contagion. In the midst of such warring elements, 
where would be the Creator's glory ? where the design of crea- 
tion ? Amid surrounding insubordination and conflict, where 
would be the happiness of those even who should remain loyal 
to their Sovereign, and faithful to the end of their being? 
Would not the return of " chaos and old night" be far better 
than such a scene ? Were some wandering star to rush across 



sect, in.] The Apostasy of Adam. 395 

the track of our solar system, dashing the elements in ruin 
together, it would be a little matter, compared with a moral con- 
vulsion such as this. 

The case supposed arouses in us emotions of indignation and 
horror. But, alas ! it is no fancy sketch. In its most atrocious 
aspect, it is fully realized in the instance before us. What 
matters it that it was man tabernacling in clay, and not a seraph 
of altogether spiritual mould ? What matters it that our trans- 
gressing parents did not at that moment see God with their 
natural eyes, nor behold the ineffable light in which he robes 
himself in the dwelling-place of his glory ? Had they not as 
convincing evidence of his presence, power, holiness and good- 
ness as the angels possess ? Had they not as intelligible a 
revelation of his will as they can have ? Yet did they stop 
their ears to his voice, close their eyes to the manifestation 
of his glory, contemn the rich gifts of his goodness, and 
refuse to render him that service and honour which were 
his due, and strive to exalt themselves to independence of his 
authority and to equality with his divinity and his throne. 

Such, then, was the nature of the act by which man was 
separated from the favour of his God and exposed to his fearful 
displeasure; — an act, insignificant in itself, but clothed with 
tremendous meaning, as it proclaimed, in unmistakable language, 
to the startled universe, rebellion consummated against God, and 
defiance hurled against the throne of omnipotent Holiness. 

3 4 Depra- -^llt *he S ^ n °^ 0lU> ^ PS ^ P aren ^ s Was not Only 

vationo/the an act of atrocious wickedness; it was an apos- 
race - tasy or depravation of their nature, — a turning 

away of all their powers, and their whole being, from the love 
and service of the Holy One, to the embrace of corruption and 
the servitude of sin. Such is the order of the moral system, 
which God has seen good to establish among the intelligent 
creatures, that they cannot occupy a neutral position as toward 
him. Either will their affections, and the whole fulness of their 
being, tend in ardour of desire toward God, and in entireness 
of devotion to him as their centre and end ; or those affections 
and that being will recoil from him, and realize aversion and 



396 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xii. 

hostility. Between these two conditions, the Creator has left 
no alternative. Hence, the very act of apostasy — and that is 
the very essence of sin — is such a turning away from God as 
constitutes, in and of itself, the assumption of a hostile attitude, 
the embrace of aversion to him, and the submitting of all the 
powers to this hostile tendency. And, since all the powers are 
comprehended by this alien influence, it is evident that there is, 
in the apostate, nothing upon which can be predicated the possi- 
bility of his unaided return; but, on the contrary, the aversion 
will continually bear the being farther away from God, and 
widen, forever, the gulf between. To this purpose is the testi- 
mony of Paul :' — " Know ye not, that to whom ye yield your- 
selves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, 
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness ?" 
— Rom. vi. 16. Thus the sinner sells himself a slave to his own 
sins, and comes into bondage to his own apostasy. 

Such was the case with Adam. Not only did he transgress 
the command of his Maker, — not only did he violate the rule 
of righteousness, — but, in so doing, he turned away from God, 
in a revolt which embraced his entire nature, pervaded his 
whole being, and possessed every power. In entering upon trial, 
he enjoyed a perfect moral freedom. He had power and liberty 
to choose holiness or sin, to embrace evil or good. By his 
apostasy, he submitted himself to an absolute tyranny of cor- 
ruption, a most degrading servitude to sin. So that now, no 
longer able to choose the good or work righteousness, he was 
free only to evil, and led captive in chains of enmity to God, to 
work wickedness with greediness. 

Not only so, but the apostasy, in which he thus plunged, 
attached to him, not merely as he was a distinct and individual 
person, but as he was the head and fountain of the race. Com- 
prehending and involving his whole being and nature, it at- 
tached, at once, to all who were in that nature, his seed; binding 
them with him in the crime of the apostasy thus wrought, in 
the depravity thus embraced and the penalty thus incurred. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PERMISSION OF MOEAL EVIL. 

Here a difficulty is urged, respecting the power, goodness and 
holiness of God. How can it be reconciled with these, that moral 
I 1. Phases evil has a place under his government ? 
of Optimism. Plato represents Socrates as quoting from Anaxa- 

goras the doctrine, that Nous, or Wisdom, was the originating 
cause of all things. Upon this, Socrates reasons that, if it be 
so, the Wisdom by which all things are regulated will dispose 
each in such a way as will be best. If, therefore, it be the wish 
of any one to ascertain the reason of a thing, in what way it is 
originated, or perishes, or is, he must discover, in regard to it, in 
what way it is best for it either to be, to endure, or to do any 
thing.* 

The doctrine thus hinted by Plato was, by Leibnitz, incorpo- 
rated into his system of Christian philosophy, and constituted 
the fundamental principle in his great work, the Tentamina 
TheodicaeaB. In his controversy with Dr. Samuel Clarke, he 
says, "Not mathematical principles, (according to the usual 
sense of that word,) but metaphysical principles, ought to be op- 
posed to those of the materialists. Pythagoras, Plato and Aris- 
totle in some measure had the knowledge of these principles ; 
but I pretend to have established them demonstratively in my 
Theodicea, though I have done it in a popular manner. The 
great foundation of mathematics is the principle of contradiction 
or identity ; that is, that a proposition cannot be true and false 
at the same time, and, therefore, that a is a, and cannot be not a. 
This single principle is sufficient to demonstrate every part of 



* Platonis Phaedon, xlvi. 

397 



398 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xiii. 

arithmetic and geometry; that is, all mathematical principles. 
But, in order to proceed from mathematics to natural philosophy, 
another principle is requisite, as I have observed in my Theodi- 
cea: I mean the principle of a sufficient reason; viz., that nothing 
happens without a reason why it should be so rather than other- 
wise."* This principle of a sufficient reason, Leibnitz thus uses 
in the Theodicea : — " The infinite wisdom of God, joined to a no 
less infinite goodness, could not but choose that which is best. 
For, as a less evil has something of the nature of a good, so a 
less good has somewhat of the nature of evil, if it place an ob- 
stacle in the way of a greater good ; and there might be some- 
thing to be mended in the works of God, if there were room for 
doing better. And, as in mathematics, where there is neither 
maximum nor minimum, nor any thing distinctive, all are made 
equal, or, if that does not take place, nothing at all can be done, 
so also of perfect wisdom, which is regulated by rule, no less than 
the processes of mathematics, it may be said, that unless among 
all possible worlds there had been a best, God would have pro- 
duced none. . . . And although all time and space were filled, 
yet will it always be possible for them to be filled in an infinite 
variety of ways ; and an infinite variety of worlds would be possible, 
from which it behooved God to select the best, since he may do 
nothing except according to the rule of supreme reason, "f In 
fact, the Tentamina Theodicseoe is throughout designed as an il- 
lustration of this doctrine. Stapfer was a professed disciple of 
the Leibnitian philosophy.! In his Institutes of Theology, 
he enters into an exposition and defence of the opinion in ques- 
tion. He thus states the standard of excellence to which the 
universe is referred, in pronouncing it the best : — " The divine 
intellect represents all things distinctly to itself, and therefore 
knows instantly what means are most fit to accomplishing his end. 

* Correspondence between Leibnitz and Clarke, p. 19. 

j- Leibnitii Tentamina Theodicseoe, Pars Prima, \ 8. 

% "Capite tertio prsecipua religionis Christians purioris dogmata in nexu suo 
exhibuimus. De capite autem hoc tenendum, quod in primis ejus sectionibus, 
quae Theologiam naturalem spectant, Wolfiana secuti simus Principia, Theo- 
dicgeanique Leibnitianam." — Stapfer's Preface. 



sect, i.] The Permission of Moral Evil. 399 

But, since God decreed to produce this in preference to all other 
possible worlds, it is therefore demonstrated to be best adapted 
to his end, and therefore, also, the most perfect." " He is called 
independent who has in himself nothing the reason of which is in 
any other thing. But God is independent : hence it is impossible 
to conceive any thing in his infinite perfection, the reason of 
which is contained in any other being but himself. Hence no 
other being can contribute any thing to his infinite perfection ; 
and in relation to God, nothing whatever can be called good, 
unless so far as it may be a representation of his infinite per- 
fection. Since in relation to God a thing is good as it is a re- 
presentation of his infinite perfection, and since the infinite per- 
fection of God is to be understood no otherwise than as em- 
bracing all the divine attributes, or the whole fulness of God, 
therefore in relation to God nothing can be accounted good, but 
what has respect to all his attributes, either as a symbol or 
shadow of them."* 

This doctrine, according to which, the present system of the 
universe is the best that is possible, is known as the optimistic, 
or beltistean, theory. It was adopted by Edwards, and became a 
conspicuous feature in the theology of JSTew England, consti- 
tuting the plea by which the divines of that school justify the 
efficient agency which they attribute to God in the existence of 
sin. But the doctrine, in passing into the theology of Edwards 
and his followers, experienced a fatal transformation, by which 
its identity was lost. This change consisted in the substitution 
of "fitness to secure the greatest happiness to the greatest 
number," instead of, the will and nature of God, as the stand- 
ard of excellence to which reference is had. 

Edwards, speaking of the providence of God respecting sin, 
says, " There is no inconsistence in supposing that God may 
hate a thing as it is in itself, and considered simply as evil, and 
yet that it may be his will it should come to pass, consider- 
ing all consequences. I believe there is no person of good 
understanding who will venture to say he is certain that it 
is impossible it should be best, taking in the whole compass 

* Stapferi Inst. Theol., torn. I. cap. iii. sec. iv. §§. 389, 407, 408. 



400 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiii. 

and extent of existence, and all consequences in the endless 
series of events, that there should be such a thing as moral 
evil in the world. And if so, it will certainly follow, that 
an infinitely wise being, who always chooses what is best, must 
choose that there should be such a thing. And if so, then such 
a choice is not an evil, but a wise and holy, choice. And if 
so, then that providence which is agreeable to such a choice is a 
wise and holy providence."* In a marginal note appended to this 
sentence, he adopts the language of an English Arminian writer, 
who says, "It is difficult to handle the necessity of evil in such 
a manner as not to stumble such as are not above being alarmed 
at propositions which have an uncommon sound. But if philo- 
sophers will but reflect calmly on the matter, they will find that, 
consistently with the unlimited power of the Supreme Cause, it 
may be said, that in the best-ordered system, evils must have 
place." " If the Author and Governor of all things be infinitely 
perfect, then whatever is, is right ; of all possible systems he 
hath chosen the best, and consequently there is no absolute evil 
in the universe." 

Bellamy was very earnest in support of the same doctrine. 
He says, "I believe that the infinitely wise and holy God, in 
every part of his conduct relative to the intellectual system, does 
that which is really wisest and best for him to do, most for his 
own glory and the good of the system in the whole ; and there- 
fore that God's present plan is of all possible plans the best, — 
most for his glory and the good of the system. "f Says a more 
recent writer, "Let it be understood that the doctrine does 
not contemplate sin as, on the whole, or in the operations of the 
divine government, an evil. It is no deduction from the sum of 
the greatest good. It is an evil, only in the limited views and 
experience of finite beings. Considered as an event of the divine 
government, it comes in on the ground of benevolence, and not 
in the character of sin, or evil. It is a part of the system of 
benevolence; as much a part as any other event, or series of 
events. It is, therefore, not to be viewed as a detached and 

* Edwards on the Will, Part IV. §9. 

| Vindication of Discourses on the Permission of Sin, Sect. 2. 



sect, i.] The Permission of Moral Evil. 401 

necessary means of securing the greatest good, but as a con- 
stituent and essential part of that system which involves the 
greatest good. And if the greatest good is to be the object and 
rule of benevolence, then it would be morally wrong for God to 
choose or carry into effect any other system."* 

On the other hand, it is held by the New Haven school, that 
the reason why evil is in the world, is, that God could not prevent 
§ 2. New Ha- it, in a moral system. Says Dr. Taylor, "God 
ven theory. (there is no irreverence in saying it) can make no- 
thing else sin but the sinner's act. Do you, then, say that God 
gave man a nature which he knew would lead him to sin ? What 
if he did? — Do you know that God could have done better, — 
better on the whole ; or better — if he gave him existence at all — 
even for the individual himself? The error lies in the gratuitous 
assumption that God could have adopted a moral system, and 
prevented all sin, or, at least, the -present degree of sin. For no 
man knows this; no man can prove it. The assumption, there- 
fore, is wholly unauthorized as the basis of the present objection; 
and the objection itself, groundless. On the supposition that the 
evil which exists is, in respect to divine prevention, incidental 
to the best possible system, and that, notwithstanding the evil, 
God will secure the greatest good possible to him to secure, — 
who can impeach either his wisdom or his goodness, because evil 
exists ? I say, then, that as ignorance is incompetent to make an 
objection, and as no one knows that this supposition is not a 
matter of fact, no one has a right to assert the contrary, or even 
to think it."f "The difficulties on this difficult subject, as it is 
extensively regarded, result, in the view of the writer, from two 
very common but groundless assumptions, — assumptions which, 
so long as they are admitted and reasoned upon, must leave the 
subject involved in insuperable difficulties. The assumptions 
are these : First, that sin is the necessary means of the greatest 
good, and as such, so far as it exists, is preferable on the whole 
to holiness in its stead. Secondly, that God could in a moral 

* An Examination of a Review of Taylor's sermon on Human Depravity, and 
Hervey's Strictures on that sermon, Hartford, 1829, p. 51. 
f Dr. N. W. Taylor's Concio ad Clerum, 1828, pp. 28, 29. 



402 Tlie Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xiii. 

system have prevented all sin, or at least the present degree of 
sin. . . . If holiness in a moral system be preferable on the 
whole to sin in its stead, why did not a benevolent God, were it 
possible to him, prevent all sin, and secure the prevalence of 
universal holiness ? Would not a moral universe of perfect holi- 
ness, and of course of perfect happiness, be happier and better 
than one comprising sin and its miseries ? And must not infinite 
benevolence accomplish all the good it can ? Would not a be- 
nevolent God, then, had it been possible to him in the nature of 
things, have secured the existence of universal holiness in his 
moral kingdom ? ... Is there, then, the least particle of evidence 
that the entire prevention of sin in moral beings is possible to 
God in the nature of things ? If not, then what becomes of the 
very common assumption of such possibility?"* 

We have already examined an opinion which assumes to bind 
and limit the authority of God, by sovereign obligations of be- 
nevolence, — "the principles of honour and right." The two 
conflicting schemes above exhibited are phases of the same doc- 
trine, — attempts to vindicate the character of God, from im- 
peachments which spring immediately from the assumption that 
he is controlled by certain necessary, extrinsic and supreme 
obligations, which must be fulfilled, in order to the vindication 
of his goodness and holiness. 

This doctrine, particularly in its more recent forms, labours 
under a confusion of views, in regard to the divine attributes, 
I 3. Fallacy which vitiates every conclusion that is based upon 
of optimism. it. When we contemplate the attribute of justice, 
we recognise in it such relations to the actions of intelligent 
creatures as involve certain obligations, which are supreme and 
unchangeable. Thus, justice demands that the transgressor 
shall not be acquitted, nor the innocent punished. But the case 
is very different in regard to benevolence. Whilst it is the cha- 
racteristic of justice to act in entire conformity to the require- 
ments of law, — in other words, to the declared will of the just 
One himself, — on the other hand, it is of the very essence of 

* Concio ad Clerum, pp. 29-33, margin. 



sect, ii.] The Permission of Moral Evil. 403 

benevolence to be free. To say that God is bound to act so and 
so ; is to take the case specified out of the province of benevo- 
lence, and refer it to the tribunal of justice. Hence, to suppose 
God obliged to act benevolently, in any given case, is to deny 
the possibility of benevolence in him ; since that attribute, to be 
real, must be uncontrolled by any thing else than the mere dis- 
cretion of the benefactor, in the bestowal of that, which, as 
rightfully he may retain, as, graciously bestow. And yet it is 
only by neglect of a distinction so clear and unquestionable as 
this, that any one is liable to be led astray with the doctrine of 
optimism. Should it be said, that God is bound in justice to 
secure the highest possible amount of happiness for his creatures, 
it would at once be evident, that there can, in the nature of the 
case, be no law by which justice is thus bound. On the other 
hand, benevolence resists the attempt to impose any bonds upon 
its exercises. 

Another objection to this scheme is, that it is founded on 
entirely inadequate and unworthy views of God himself. " The 
infinitely wise and holy God, in every part of his conduct rela- 
tive to the intellectual system, does that which is really wisest 
and best for him to do." Such is the statement of Bellamy. 
But here the question at once occurs, In what sense is the 
present system the wisest and best of all possible systems ? Is 
it more profitable to God ? " Can a man be profitable unto 
God, as he that is wise is profitable unto himself?" — Job xxii. 2. 
Nay, can the universe be profitable to him ? Did the creation 
spring from some felt necessity of the Creator ? And is this 
system the best, as it most fully satisfies that want ? Or, on 
the other hand, is it said that the rule of comparison is the 
welfare of the creatures, — " the greatest good of the system in 
the whole," — "the greatest good of the greatest number," — 
"the happiness of being in general," — as it is variously ex- 
pressed? The question at once occurs, Whence the origin of 
this system, the existence of the " being in general," which the 
theory contemplates ? The only scriptural answer is, " He hath 
made all things for himself," — for his pleasure, — of his own will. 
Now, either the system thus had in view is nothing, or it is a 



404 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiii. 

definite and specific thing. If it be not the latter, it is mani- 
festly absurd to predicate any thing of it ; and if it be, it can 
be nothing else than the whole sum of things just as they now 
are in existence, as Leibnitz constantly and rightly insists. But 
here it is to be considered, how it can be supposed that, prior to 
the creation of all things, — the production of " the system," — God 
can be obliged, as toward it, to make one thing or another ; or 
how, after it is created, it can be conceived to claim, or he, to 
be obliged, either to retain it as it is, or to modify it, or make it 
other than it is ; that is, to destroy it, and place something else 
in its stead. In short, it is a mere absurdity, a mere jingle of 
unmeaning words, to talk of God being obliged to the system, 
or to being in general, in any way whatever. 

If, then, God is under any obligation to his creatures at all, 
it must be to them individually, and not to that abstraction 
which is called " the system." But it will hardly be attempted 
to prove that he is thus bound to individuals. When did he 
come under the obligation, and to whom ? Is it due to the devils 
that they be made happy ? Or, if it be not, by what rule of dis- 
crimination may any other creature make the claim ? The 
holy are indeed entitled to happiness. But this is not upon any 
ground of claim springing from "the nature of things," or the 
rights of being, but solely by virtue of that covenant which the 
Creator has seen fit gratuitously to make, — not with man only, 
but with angels, too, — that he that is holy shall have eternal 
life. 

The error of the theory, as originated by Leibnitz, consisted 
in the gratuitous assumption that, " unless among all possible 
worlds there had been a best, God would have produced none ;" 
an assumption which he does not attempt to establish by any better 
argument than the fanciful appeal, by way of analogy, to mathe- 
matics, in which, if " there is neither maximum nor minimum, 
nor any thing distinctive, all are made equal ; or, if that does 
not take place, nothing at all can be done." The notion seems 
to be akin to his favourite doctrine of monads, according to 
which, there are no two things alike in the universe, — not even 
among the ultimate atoms of matter. But who shall say that 



sect, in.] The Permission of Moral Evil. 405 

the infinite wisdom of God, in making this world, exhausted 
itself? Who does not see, that to assert that he could not make 
another universe equally good, is to deny, whilst pretending to 
honour, his infinite wisdom? For a wisdom, the resources of 
which have been so expended that it cannot again equal its past 
achievements, is a finite capacity, and not the boundless depth 
of the infinite God. 

In short, the whole scheme of providence, including the crea- 
tion and entire history of all things, must be referred to the 
sovereign will of God as the only and all-sufficient reason of its 
adoption, — to whom, in all its parts and complexity, it was a 
simple unit ; of which one part may not be set in opposition to 
another, or in independence of it, demanding that it should be 
as it is, or otherwise. The perfection which attaches to it can- 
not be relative, since there is no standard of reference except 
the will that gave it existence. That will, with equal freedom 
and equal wisdom, might have adopted another ; which, however 
different, had been equally excellent ; and for the same reason ; 
to wit, that the will of God gave it being. All we can say, in 
any case, is, that the work of God is perfect. The only reason 
we can give, — the only reason we need or ought to seek, — the 
infinitely sufficient reason, why things are as they are, is that 
given by our Saviour in view of the perdition of the wise and 
mighty of the world : — " Even so, Father ! for so it seemed good 
in thy sight." It is therefore manifest, that, however the opti- 
mistic scheme may seem to honour the wisdom and goodness of 
God, it does neither ; since it subordinates his divine beneficence 
and sovereign will to a constraint, and his excellence to an exte- 
rior standard of reference. Thus, in fact, it derogates from his 
divinity, and so overshadows all the attributes. 

Vicious as are the premises thus exposed, still more so is the 
New Haven doctrine, predicated upon them. Briefly, it is, that 
a 4. Cannot ^°^ cou ^ n °t have adopted a moral system, and 
God prevent prevented all sin, or at least the present degree of 
sin? sin. Fully to expose the false and deadly cha- 

racter of this heresy, it would be necessary to trace its relations 
to the doctrines of human depravity, the atonement, regenera- 



406 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiii. 

tion, sanctification, and the final inheritance of the saints; all 
of which it defiles and falsifies. A few words, however, will be 
enough to expose the unscriptural character of the doctrine, 
which is no less impious than it is erroneous. The positions in 
which it is entrenched, are thus stated, in the interrogative form, 
by its author, Dr. Taylor: — "Is there the least particle of 
evidence that the entire prevention of sin in moral beings is 
possible to God in the nature of things ? If not, then what be- 
comes of the very common assumption of such possibility? All 
evidence of the truth of this assumption must be derived either 
from the nature of the subject, or from known facts. Is there such 
evidence from the nature of the subject ? It is here to be re- 
marked that the prevention of sin by any influence that destroys 
the power to sin, destroys moral agency. Moral agents, then, 
must possess the power to sin. Who, then, can prove a priori, or 
from the nature of the subject, that a being who can sin will 
not sin ? How can it be proved a priori, or from the nature of 
the subject, that a thing will not be ; when, for aught that appears, 
it may be? On this point is it presumptuous to bid defiance to 
the powers of human reason ? Is there any evidence from facts ? 
Facts, so far as they are known to us, furnish no support to the 
assumption, that God could in a moral system prevent all sin, or 
even the present degree of sin. For we know of no creature of 
God, whose holiness is secured without that influence which re- 
sults, either directly or indirectly, from the existence of sin and 
its punishment. ... It may be true that God will secure under 
the present system of things the greatest degree of holiness, and 
the least degree of sin, ivhich it is possible to him in the nature 
of things to secure. Neither the nature of the subject, nor known 
facts, furnish a particle of evidence to the contrary. The assump- 
tion therefore that God could in a moral system have prevented 
all sin, or the present degree of sin, is wholly gratuitous and 
unauthorized, and ought never to be made the basis of an ob- 
jection or an argument."* The italics are Dr. Taylor's. 

The first remark which presents itself is, that this doctrine 
involves, not merely the possible, but the inevitable, perdition 
* Concio ad Clerum, p. 33, margin. 



sect, iv.] The Permission of Moral Evil. 407 

of every creature in the universe. It is assumed, that the entire 
prevention of sin in moral beings is, in the nature of things, im- 
possible to God. In each particular case, there is a possibility 
of apostasy. However slight, then, may be that possibility, 
although it be counted as one to myriads, in favour of steadfast- 
ness, yet, in the lapse of eternity, all those myriads of favourable 
probabilities will have space to exhaust themselves, not once, but 
an infinite number of times ; so that it is susceptible of mathe- 
matical demonstration, that each one of those of whom it is now 
predicated as an immensely remote possibility that they will 
fall, will ultimately be subject to a contingency, infinitely more 
powerful, in determining their fall. It may take myriads of 
untold ages to work out the result. But at length, if this 
monstrous doctrine be true, despite all the influences which 
omnipotence can exert, the mansions of light will be without 
inhabitant, and, — with reverence be the atrocious conclusion 
named, — at last, He, who is the first born among many brethren, 
will be no longer The TJnclefiled! !Nbt only so, but if " moral 
agents must possess the power to sin," that power is in God; 
and if it is impossible "to prove a priori, or from the nature 
of the subject, that a thing icill not be, when, for aught that 
appears, it may be," it is impossible to prove — "I speak as a 
man" — that God himself will continue forever to be unchansje- 
ably the Holy One ! 

Again, this whole scheme is based on a false assumption, as to 
the nature of the influence by which men are renewed to holi- 
ness, and the heavenly hosts kept in their uprightness. This is 
assumed to be a merely persuasive power, — an appeal to motives, 
essential among which are those which are derived from the 
punishment of the wicked. And this false position is again 
based upon another, equally without foundation; to wit, that- 
absolute independence is an essential attribute of moral agency; 
— that God cannot effectually control the determinations of 
moral agents, without, at the same time, destroying their moral 
agency. But, is this true? Does he not "work in us both to 
will and to do of his good pleasure" ? — Phil. ii. 13. "The king's 
heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he 



408 The Elohhn Revealed. [chap. xiii. 

turneth it whithersoever he will." — Prov. xxi. 1. "A man's 
heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps." — 
Prov. xvi. 9. "Was it not by "the determinate counsel and fore- 
knowledge of God" that Judas and the Jews betrayed and "by 
wicked hands" crucified and slew the Prince of life? (Acts ii. 
23.) What, upon this system, mean such promises as those con- 
tained in Jeremiah xxxi. 33? — "After those days, saith the Lord, 
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their 
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." 
And again, — Ezekiel xi. 19, — "I will give them one heart, and I 
will put a new spirit within you ; and I will take the stony heart 
out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh ; that they 
may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do 
them." How, too, are we to understand the language of the be- 
loved disciple? — "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin ; for his seed remaineth in him ; and he cannot sin, because 
he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, 
and the children of the devil." — 1 John iii. 9, 10. If the power 
to sin be essential to moral agency, and it is impossible to prove 
that a being who can sin will not sin, — if the power of God is 
inadequate to prevent sin, without destroying moral agency, — 
how is it that the heirs of the New Jerusalem are assured that 
"there shall be no more curse," — that "his servants shall serve 
him," — that "they shall reign for ever and ever"? — Rev. xxii. 
3, 5. Will it be said, that by means of the punishment of the 
wicked, resulting from sin already committed, God will have 
acquired a moral power to prevent the redeemed from sinning? 
The question recurs, — Does this take away the power to sin? If 
it does, is this consistent with the doctrine that "moral agents 
must possess the power to sin"? If it does not, what becomes 
of Dr. Taylor's doctrine, that "it is impossible to prove that a 
being who can sin will not sin"? 

In short, the alternative is clear and unavoidable. Either the 
creatures are in all respects dependent upon God, and, in the 
exercise of moral agency, subject to his control, as in every thing 
else; or, on the contrary, Jehovah himself is the dependent 
being; subject to the caprice of man, in fulfilling his purposes; 



sect, iv.] The Permission of Moral Evil, 409 

and liable to be utterly defeated, by man's free will, in all his 
most gracious designs, — including the salvation of the seed whom 
he has, in covenant, promised to his eternal Son, as the reward 
of his sorrows and shame. 

The introduction of sin was permitted by God, — not as the 
means of the greatest good to the greatest number; nor because 
he could not prevent it, — but because it so seemed good to him, 
whose right it is, unquestioned, to reign. Admitted, thus, by 
his sovereign will, it is employed, by his wisdom and goodness, 
as the means and occasion of revealing his own highest moral 
perfections. A moral agent made in God's image, is guilty of 
an aberration so extreme as to apostatize from and assail the 
very Fountain of life and being, itself. Such an action, atrocious 
as it is, constitutes a display of liberty and independence of will, 
which, however really limited and bounded, in the creature, by 
the Creator's power, is a most remarkable and significant pro- 
clamation of a corresponding attribute unbounded in God, — of 
a freedom of will, an irresponsible independence of purpose 
thought and action, which is absolute and entire ; unlimited by 
any thing but himself; uncontrolled by aught but his own infi- 
nite nature. Further, the permission of sin gives occasion for 
the display of all those divine perfections, of holiness and wis- 
dom, of justice and mercy, of long-suffering and wrath, which 
unfold themselves in harmonious action, in the history of the 
perdition of devils, the eternal blessedness of the elect angels, 
and the ruin and redemption of man. But for the occurrence 
of sin, Jehovah had never been known as the redeeming God; 
and man had never conceived an aspiration so exalted, as that 
of attaining to sonship to the Most High, — of joint inheritance 
with God's eternal Son. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Paul's discussion of original sin. 

The fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of the epistle to the 
Romans, contain the fullest and most detailed exhibition of the 
1 1. General doctrine of original sin, which we have in the 
view of the Scriptures. A careful exegesis of them will con- 
epi8 stitute our principal argument on the subject. The 

matter of the entire epistle naturally resolves itself into a num- 
ber of divisions, which, to our present purpose, may be enume- 
rated as follows : — 

1. First, are the introductory salutations, and announcement 
of the theme of the epistle, — the gospel of Christ, the power of 
God unto salvation, to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, 
and also to the Greek. — Chap. i. 1-17. 

2. That by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified, is 
proved, by appeal to the notorious wickedness of the Gentile 
world (oh... i. 18-32), — the as unquestionable guilt of the Jew, 
when tried by the spirituality of the law, — and the testimony 
of the Scriptures, (ch. ii. 1-29, iii. 1-20). 

3. Justification by faith, without the works of the law, is then 
proclaimed. Its nature is stated, (ch. iii. 21-28). Its universal 
application is asserted: — "Is he the God of the Jews only? is 
he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also; seeing 
it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and 
the uncircumcision through faith." — iii. 29-31. This is con- 
firmed in the fourth chapter, by the case of Abraham, who was 
justified in uncircumcision, through faith. The excellence of this 
plan of grace is briefly set forth in the first eleven verses of the 
fifth chapter. 

4. The apostle now proceeds to confirm and illustrate his doc- 

410 



sect, i.] Paul's Discussion of Original Sin. 411 

trine, by a still wider induction of principles. He has already- 
proved both Jews and Gentiles all under sin. He now ascends 
to the fountain, and shows that the sins of both spring from one 
source ; the crime and corruption is one ; and hence one remedy, 
the redemption of Christ, is equally requisite, and equally ap- 
propriate and applicable, to both. Here he takes occasion to 
display the principle upon which that remedy is based, and its 
consequent adaptation to the evil; and to it in all its forms and 
aspects, in all alike, whether Jew or Gentile. It was "by one 
man that sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so to 
all men death passed through him in whom all sinned." "So 
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto 
justification of life." Thus, as the one sin and condemnation are 
common to Jew and Gentile, so the one righteousness is freely 
given to both. (ch. v. 12-21.) 

5. In the sixth and seventh chapters, the objection, that the 
doctrine of free grace — repudiating the law and self-righteous- 
ness — gives the reins to indwelling depravity, and tends to li- 
centiousness, is met, by showing that the very purpose, natur- 
and effect of the salvation of Christ is, to destroy the principle 
of sin, the native depravity of the heart. With this view, the 
triumphant power of the gospel plan is contrasted with the im- 
becility of the law, which, instead of destroying, only irritates 
and discovers sin. 

6. The results of the work and grace of Christ are summed, 
in the eighth chapter, in justification, sanctification, adoption, 
the resurrection and immortality of the body, and eternal glory ; 
all which are sealed by the most infallible purpose, promises 
and love of God. 

7. In the ninth, tenth and eleventh chapters, Paul shows, 
that, in thus setting aside the law, in which his brethren trusted, 
and throwing open the doors of salvation to the world, whom 
they excluded, he was not actuated by indifference, or hostility 
to his people ; but, by ardent love ; and that, in so doing, he does 
not make the promises of none effect. On the contrary, of that 
generation, even, a remnant were chosen in Christ; and in the 
fulness of time "all Israel shall be saved," (ch. xi. 26,) God 



412 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

having in reserve for them a most eminent place in the glory of 
the gospel day. 

8. The remainder of the epistle is occupied with exhortations, 
enforcing zeal and faithfulness in Christian duties; closing with 
salutations to the Boman disciples. 

A careful regard to this general scope and design of the 
apostle, is essential to a full appreciation of the argument of 
the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters, to which we now turn. 

Chapter v. 12. " Wherefore as by one man sin 
terse \iT * entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so 
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." 
"As by one man." By "as" is intimated a comparison, of 
which but one member is here given. We shall find it resumed, 
and the other member stated, in the eighteenth verse. That 
the " one man" is Adam, appears from the fourteenth verse, and 
is not questioned by any. " Sin entered the world." "Sin 
began, — the first of the series of men's transgressions took 
place," — say Stuart and Barnes. The verb eiv^X&s literally 
means, to gain access, by assault, or by stealth, — to enter upon 
adverse possession. Its nominative, $ hpapria, sin, — and not the 
plural, sins, — as constructed with this verb, forbids the above 
interpretation. Beginning with this verse, the apostle engages 
in an argument which is closely wrought and continuous to the 
close of the seventh chapter. Its design is to unfold the nature 
of the evil for which the gospel provides, and the adaptation of 
the remedy to the precise nature of the evil as thus unfolded. 
The origin and extent of that evil he states in the twelfth verse :— 
" By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and 
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." It 
would seem to be unquestionable that the word, sin, here ex- 
presses whatever moral evil entered the world by Adam, of 
which death is the penalty. To say that there is a depravity 
in man's nature, which came in by Adam, is sin, and is so 
described in the Scriptures, and the penalty of which is death ; 
and yet deny that it is comprehended in the word here used and 
the statement here made, is a mere contradiction in terms. But 
the manner in which the apostle proceeds to handle the subject 



sect, i.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 413 

places the question beyond controversy. He begins by the 
assertion that " by one man sin entered into the world." This 
he confirms by the fact that, before and until the promulgation 
of the law from Sinai, u sin was in the world." He declares the 
law to have entered, (v. 20,) that the offence might abound. 
" But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." He 
describes sin as reigning unto death, (v. 21 ;) asks, " Shall we 
continue in sin that grace may abound?" (ch. vi. 1 ;) and repels 
the suggestion, upon the ground that " our old man is crucified 
with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence- 
forth we should not serve sin" (ch. vi. 6.) Throughout the sixth 
and seventh chapters the whole discussion of the apostle con- 
templates sin, — that which by one man entered the world, the 
wages of which is death, (vi. 23,) as an indwelling principle, of 
which, having in the fifth chapter described the origin, he in the 
subsequent ones exhibits the power and evil. By the word, sin, 
therefore, the apostle unquestionably signifies that depravity of 
heart which, in the sequel, he describes as " enmity against God," 
(viii. 7,) and the consequence of which is death, — the wrath 
and curse of God upon the race. 

To the same conclusion we are led by the manner in which 
the preposition ee<; is employed in the connection. In the New 
Testament there is a broad line of demarcation observable 
between the sense of this preposition when repeated, and when 
used but once. In the former case, it has the force of our Eng- 
lish double preposition into ; whilst, in the latter, it commonly 
corresponds with on, to, at, by, &c. Of this an illustration occurs 
in the account given by John of his own and Peter's visit to the 
sepulchre : — " The other disciple did outrun Peter, (xae -qlde Trpajzoz 
ere to fivTjfxeiov,) and came first to the sepulchre ; . . . yet went he 
not in. Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, (xae elarjXdev sic 
to fivy/ieiov,) and went into the sepulchre." — John xx. 4-6. So, 
in our text, whilst Paul describes death as coming to or on all 
men, (sr'c ndurat; dudpeo-ooz or^Xdeu,) on the other hand, of sin 
he says, that it came into the world, (e/c top xbofiov eeorjXOe.) 
Evidently, that which is thus represented by the word, sin, is 
something of which entrance into, and continuance in, men, is 



414 The EhJiim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

supposable. It cannot, then, mean, a mere act, the first of a 
series ; nor, we may add, a constructive legal attitude. In short, 
it designates that depravity which, upon the sin of Adam, en- 
tered into the nature of man. God made man upright. It is, 
therefore, a most interesting and important question, how he 
became depraved. The apostle tells us, " By one man, depravity 
— sin — entered into the world, and death by sin." By (xoofio*) 
the world, is meant, not the material earth, the sphere of man's 
habitation; nor the population of the earth viewed merely as 
a multitude of individuals ; but the race of mankind, considered 
as an organic whole, embraced in the person of Adam. " Sin 
entered." — Whilst the subject of which the apostle speaks is the 
depravity of the world, it is not here considered in respect to its 
immanent power; but its cause and origin are stated, — the 
depravation in which it began, — the apostasy, which embraced 
corruption, and plunged the race into depravity and sin. 

"And death by sin." — Says Taylor of Norwich, "No man can 
deny or doubt that the apostle is here speaking of that death 
which we all die when this present life is extinguished and the 
body returns to the dust of the earth. He speaks of that death, 
evidently, which entered into the world by Adam's sin ; that 
death which is common to all mankind, which passeth or cometh 
upon all men, good and bad, the righteous as well as the wicked, 
ver. 12 ; that death which reigned from Adam to Moses, even 
over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's 
transgression, ver. 14. Of that death, and of no other, he speaks 
in the 15th verse, i For if by the offence of one many be dead ;' 
and in the 17th verse, 'For if by one man's offence death 
reigned by one.' He is still discoursing upon the same subject, 
and therefore, evidently, clearly and infallibly, means the same 
death in all these places."* It is, indeed, very sure that in all 
these places the word, death, does mean the same thing. But 
that it does not mean, bodily dissolution, merely, is equally sure. 
On this point, the testimony of Taylor himself is conclusive, 
when, in another place, he says, " Kom. vi. 23, The wages of 

* Taylor on Original Sin. Newcastle, England, 1845, p. 13. 



sect, ii.] PauVs Discussion of Original Sin. 415 

sin is death/ is urged as a proof that the death we now die is a 
punishment of sin, consequently that there must be some sin in 
infants, who die as well as others. But l death/ in Bom. vi. 23, 
is of a nature widely different from the death we now die. 
For, as it stands there opposed to eternal life, which is the gift 
of God through Jesus Christ, it manifestly signifies eternal death, 
the second death, or that death which they shall hereafter die 
who live after the flesh."* This is true; and the same principle 
applies to the passage before us. That the death which entered 
by Adam's sin is the same as that which is the wages of sin, is 
evident from the fact that it is the reward of sin, under process 
of law, (v. 13,) by judgment unto condemnation, (v. 16 ;) and it 
is contrasted with eternal life, (v. 21,) precisely as it is in 
chapter vi. 23, which Taylor, for this reason, admits to signify 
the second death : — " That as sin hath reigned unto death, even 
so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." — v. 21. We have elsewhere 
seen that the word ''death" is not designed to describe any of the 
details of the manner in which the wrath of Cod is inflicted, 
but is simply expressive of God's righteous curse against sin ; 
and, since this curse is the cause of all the adverse providences, 
the afflictions and sorrows, and the dissolution of the body, which 
men realize, the presence of any of these is evidence of the 
curse, and properly described under the name of death. 

This meaning of the word, death, is, in fact, essential to 
the whole design and argument of the apostle. As we have 
already stated, and as will fully appear in what follows, his 
object is, to show that the evil, for which the salvation of Christ 
is requisite, is coextensive with the race, and, hence, that one 
salvation is appropriate to all men, both Jews and Gentiles, — the 
one salvation of Christ. The evil is described as consisting of 
two elements : the one moral, that is, sin ; the other penal, 
called death. What it was in which the penal evil consisted, 
which rendered Christ's salvation necessary, is sufficiently 
evinced in that which he bore. "It is written, Cursed is every 

* Ibid. Supplement, p. 183. 



416 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

one that continueth not in all tilings which are written in the 
book of the law to do them." " Christ hath redeemed us from 
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is 
written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." — Gal. 
iii. 10-13. 

The adverb (outcdz) so, in the next clause, identifies the 
effect there described with that already stated : — " The curse 
came upon Adam by the apostasy, and, in so doing, came on all 
men." By the phrase "all men" is not only designed, in general, 
the whole race of man ; but, particularly, Jews and Gentiles, 
alike ; the community of whom, in the curse and in the salva- 
tion, it is Paul's object to show. A^Wev, rendered "passed," 
signifies to pass or go through, and always requires a medium, 
either expressed or understood, through which the passage takes 
place.* The word occurs in the New Testament forty- three 
times. In thirty of these it is accompanied by a word express- 
ive of the medium ; and, in the other places, it is necessarily 
implied. Thus, Luke ii. 35 : — " A sword shall pierce through thy 
own soul also." Matt. xii. 43: — "The unclean spirit passeth 
through dry places." Luke viii. 22 : — "Let us go over [the lake] 
to the other side of the lake." Luke v. 12: — "So much the 
more there went through [the land] a fame of him." In one 
place the word might, at first glance, be supposed to express 
motion, not through, but to, a place ; but the true force of the 
language agrees with all the others: — Heb. iv. 14: — "We have 
a great high-priest that is passed through the [natural] heavens 
[to the throne of God.]" 

To the question, What medium is here required? — the text 
gives the answer: — "Wherefore, as sin, and through sin (6 
ftdvaToz) death (elar^ds, &') passed through (kvbz dvdpcoTioo) one 
man into the world ; and so [in thus doing] to all men (6 ddvazoz 
dcrjXdev) death passed through [the one man], in whom all 
sinned." The only difference between the two clauses is, that, 
in the latter, oca is in composition, and that the medium which 
it demands, (Ivoc dudpcoTtoo) " the one man," having been once 

* See Guyse's Expositor, in loco; and Junkin on Justification, p. 130. 



sect, ii.] Pauls Discussion of Original Sin. 417 

named, is not repeated. The interpretation here offered is 
confirmed by the parallel of verse 17. The phrase "to all men, 
death passed through the one," has its equivalent, there, in the 
expression, "by one man's offence death reigned through one." 

In the margin of our English Bible if* (p is rendered in 
whom, a more correct translation than the textual reading " for 
I 3. 'Etf* <u that." It is common to recognise the authority of 
« in whom." the translators as definitively for the latter reading. 
This, however, is a mistake ; as they distinctly inform us, that 
the insertion of marginal readings was because they were not 
themselves clear, and for the purpose of leaving the choice to 
the discretion of the judicious reader.* By those who object 
to rendering iy>' w, in whom, it is urged that irrc may not be 
used instead of iv, to signify in. But in this very chapter, an 
unequivocal example occurs, in v. 14 : — " Those who had not 
sinned (im zw bp.oitop.o-i) in the likeness of Adam's transgres- 
sion." Compare Horn. viii. 3 : — " God sending his own Son (iv 
bpocwpari) in the likeness of sinful flesh." See also the following 
places in which the very phrase in question occurs. Nor is this 
construction of inl without classical authority ; as has been abun- 
dantly shown by different writers. The phrase i<p' w occurs five 
times in the New Testament. Mark ii. 4 : — " The bed on which 
the sick of the palsy lay." Luke v. 25 : — "He took up [the bed] 
in which he lay." Here the construction is precisely as in our 
text. The antecedent being omitted, the ellipsis must be supplied 
by reference to the force of the connection. 2 Cor. v. 4 : — "We 
that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened ; in which 

* " Doth not a margin do well to admonish a reader to seek farther, and not to 
conclude or dogmatize upon this or that peremptorily ? For as it is a fault of in- 
credulity to doubt of those things that are evident, so to determine of such 
things as the Spirit of God hath left — even in the judgment of the judicious — 
questionable, can be no less than presumption. Therefore, as St. Augustine saith 
that variety of translations is profitable for the finding out of the sense of the Scrip- 
tures, so diversity of signification and sense in the margin, where the text is not 
so clear, must needs do good, yea, is necessary, as we are persuaded. . . . They 
that are wise had rather have their judgments at liberty in differences of read- 
ings, than to be captivated to one when it may be the other." — Translators' 
Preface to the Reader. 

27 



418 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

[groaning] we would not be unclothed." Phil. iv. 10: — "Now 
at the last, ye bestir yourselves again to care for me, in which 
[caring] ye were careful before, but ye lacked opportunity." 
The only remaining place is Phil. iii. 12, where the construc- 
tion is obscure : — " If that I may lay hold of [the prize] unto 
[the obtaining of] which also I was laid hold of by Christ 
Jesus," — is perhaps a just rendering. Or it may be read, " I 
follow after if that I may apprehend, because I also was appre- 
hended of Christ Jesus." If this translation be adopted, it is 
the only place in which the phrase occurs as a causative particle. 
The construction of Luke xi. 22 will also illustrate the use of 
the phrase under discussion : — " He taketh from him all his 
armour (lip f t ) in which he trusted." From all these cases, it is 
evident that, whilst the force of the verb, de?j?3ev 'passed through, 
requires the translation, in whom, this rendering is demanded by 
the analogy of the use of the phrase itself 'in other places. 

The parallel language of this same apostle in 1 Cor. xv. 22, on 
the same subject, confirms our interpretation, as it shows the light 
in which the subject was viewed by Paul: — "As (iv zw Woafi) in 
Adam all die." The sentiment of Paul in the place under consider- 
ation would not be changed, were we to substitute this phrase 
and read, "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death 
by sin, and so in Adam all die, in whom all sinned." In fact, so 
conclusive is the evidence in its favour, that this interpretation 
is admitted by Whitby and other Arminians. 

"In whom all have sinned." — The original is free from the 
ambiguity which the auxiliary " have" gives to the place, by 
which colour is afforded to the pretence that the apostle speaks 
of sins personally committed by Adam's posterity. The word 
(rjiiaprov) sinned, is in the aorist, expressing action indefinitely 
past and completed. " To all men death passed through the one in 
whom all sinned." Such is the assertion of the apostle : — " By one 
man sin entered into the world, and in him all sinned." If the 
entrance of sin was the embrace of depravity, this language is 
also to be understood in the same sense. When Adam aposta- 
tized from God, all his race, being in him as the branches are in 
the undeveloped shoot, apostatized with him, and so became cor- 
rupt and accursed. They are condemned under death as sinners, 



sect, in.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 419 

because they are such. They sinned. That such was the case, 
the apostle proceeds to show in the following verses. 

Ver. 13. — " For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is 
not imputed when there is no law." — Prior to the giving of the 
§ 4. Yews l&w on Sinai there was sin, as well as after. It is, by 
13 > 14 - some, assumed from this scripture, that there were 

no sins imputed until the coming in of the law of Moses. But 
directly the opposite of this is the apostle's argument. He 
declares, in the next verse, that " death reigned from Adam to 
Moses." He assumes the fact, which in the close of the next 
chapter is stated in terms, that death is the wages of sin. 
Where, therefore, there is death, there must be sin. And, since 
there was death all the time from Adam "until the law" given 
by the hand of Moses on Sinai, it follows, as already asserted, 
that " sin was in the world." But sin is the transgression of law; 
and hence there can be no such thino; as sin where there is no law ; 
and therefore no dealing as for sin. " Sin is not imputed when 
there is no law." Since, then, there was death, and therefore 
sin, prior to that revelation in which the Jews boasted as " the 
law," it follows that there must have been a law in existence 
before that of Sinai, a law under which sin and death entered 
the world, and gained dominion over all men, both Gentiles and 
Jews alike. What law that was, Paul had already stated : — 
"Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the 
doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, 
which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in 
the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; 
which show the work of the law written on their hearts." — 
Rom. ii. 14, 15. Throughout the entire argument Paul carefully 
distinguishes two features which were essentially united in 
Adam's apostasy. The one is, the violation of the positive pre- 
cept, which he designates as "the offence," "the disobedience." 
and "the transgression." The other is, the violation of the law 
written in Adam's heart, and so, in the nature of the race, and 
by the offence transgressed in both. Its violation was the em- 
brace of that which the apostle calls, sin. The law, therefore, 
under which sin and death reigned from Adam to Moses, — the 



420 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

law under which sin entered into the world and death by sin 
passed to all men, is "the law written in their heart." In- 
scribed, as we have elsewhere seen, in the heart of Adam, and, 
in him, written in the nature of man, its power is seen in the 
struggles of those who "do by nature the things contained in 
the law," and its violation by Adam, and in him by the race, is the 
cause of the universal prevalence of sin and death. Hence, the 
law of Moses cannot have been otherwise than subsidiary to the 
other ; and satisfaction to the former, even if rendered, could not 
meet the claims nor set aside the authority of that law which is 
common to the race, the curse of which rests upon all alike. 
Therefore, the necessity and the provision of a remedy, not for 
the Jew only, but for the race. The fact of the actual imputa- 
tion of sin, prior to Moses, is evident from such examples as 
that of Cain, at whose door, according to the testimony of God, 
sin lay, (Gen. iv. 7) ; — the old world, whose wickedness God saw 
that it was great, insomuch that for it they were destroyed, 
(Gen. vi. 5-7 ;) — the cities of the plain, (Gen. xix. 13 ;) — and the 
Amorites of Canaan. (Gen. xv. 16.) 

Ver. 14. — "Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, 
even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of 
Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." 
■ — " Nevertheless :" — Although it is true that there can be no sin, 
and therefore no curse, when there is no law, yet the curse was 
realized; "death reigned." Not only did men die, but that 
under righteous sentence; for death came not in by usurpation 
and violence ; but, enthroned by the law, he wielded its sceptre, 
and reigned by right. "Even over them that had not sinned 
after the similitude of Adam's transgression." By Augustine, 
and perhaps the great majority of judicious expositors after him, 
this is referred to infants ; upon the supposition that the imme- 
diate contrast is between actual transgression, and innate sin. 
Calvin and others, however, suppose the contrast to be between 
transgressors of a positive precept, as was Adam, and those 
who have no law but that written on the heart. We prefer the 
former interpretation; because, though the apostle had empha- 
tically mentioned the transgression of Adam, as an actual sin, 



sect, iv.] Paul's Discussion of Original Sin. 421 

and afterwards insists much on it as such, he does not, in any- 
place either before or after, lay any stress upon, or even mention, 
the fact that it was transgression of a positive, as contradistin- 
guished from a moral or innate precept. Infants undoubtedly 
died, as well as others; and are therefore necessarily included in 
the inference which he draws from the prevalence of death. All 
the natural offspring of Adam are, by the whole tenor of the 
argument, and its repeated and express declarations, held to have 
become condemned sinners, by virtue of his transgression. If 
this be true of any one, it is as appropriate to infants as to any 
others. If infants are excepted from a place in the offence and 
condemnation, they are by that process excluded from a place in 
the benefits of the redemption. It has been provided as a remedy 
for the case of those only who were ruined in Adam. Whilst, 
however, for these reasons the Augustinian interpretation is to 
be preferred, the other involves in it every conclusion, concerning 
original sin, contained in the former. The apostle reasons that, 
since death is the punishment of sin, under the sanctions of law, 
it follows, that those who die, are sinners against law; even 
though they may not have a positive precept revealed to them; 
— they are sinners against the law written on their hearts. But, 
if this be sound reasoning, the conclusion that follows must be 
as broad as the premises laid. — Whosoever dies, he dies under 
the sentence of the law for sin. — He is then a sinner, — even 
though he have never known the written law ; he has been con- 
demned by law, even that in his own heart. — Infants die; there- 
fore they are sinners; although the written law has never come 
to them. "Adam, — who is the figure of him that was to come." 
Adam was, then, a figure or type of Christ. The word, (tuttck;,) 
figure, means "that which exhibits a representation of any 
thing." Thus, Heb. viii. 5 : — " See that thou make all things ac- 
cording to the pattern showed thee in the mount." Elsewhere, 
in the same connection, the word is translated, "the fashion." — 
Acts vii. 44. Evidently, it here has respect to Christ's repre- 
sentative office ; of which Adam's relation to his seed was a type 
or likeness. 

Ver. 15. — "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift." — By 



422 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

"the offence," Paul designates the eating of the forbidden fruit, 
1 5. Vertex — the formal action, in which the sin, the apostasy, 
15-17. l a ,y concealed. On the other hand, by "the free 

gift," he points to the righteousness of Christ; which, as a gra- 
tuity of divine goodness, is, without price, (v. 17,) bestowed on 
the unworthy. "Not as the offence, so also." — Adam was 
indeed a type of Christ ; yet is not the work of the latter to be 
measured by Adam's scale. The apostle specifies several points 
of difference. 1. One is intimated by the structure of the sen- 
tence. In order to a perfect parallel, the apostle should have 
said, "Not as the offence, so is the obedience;" or, "Not as the 
penal liability for the offence, so is the free gift of the righteous- 
ness." But, instead of either of these forms of expression, the 
Holy Ghost prefers to say, "Not as the offence, so also is the 
free gift." Thus is intimated a difference between the nature of 
our relation to the offence of Adam and to the righteousness of 
Christ. The offence is ours immediately, and not by virtue of 
any divine agency investing us with it. As the apostle has 
already shown, that, when Adam sinned, all his seed were in 
him, and so sinned in the same act with him, — and that, in the 
fact of his disobedience, sin entered into all men, bringing them 
under bondage to death ; so, now, he assumes the reality of these 
postulates; and, as a consequence, recognises the offence as the 
disobedience of all, — as natively belonging to, and immediately 
chargeable upon, all. It is only because truly and immediately 
ours, that a God of infinite goodness and justice charges it to us. 
But, on the other hand, grace bestows a righteousness, to which 
we hold no such native relation, — a righteousness in which we 
have no original property; and to which we could never have 
acquired any, had it not, contrary to nature, been made ours 
by free gift. " Not as the offence, so also is the free gift." Says 
Calvin, "Adam's sin does not condemn us, by a bare imputa- 
tion, as though the punishment of another's sin were exacted of 
us ; but we therefore endure its punishment because we are also 
guilty of the crime, since our nature, vitiated in him, is held 
guilty of iniquity by God. But Christ's righteousness restores 
to salvation by another method; for it is not accepted of God ; 



sect, v.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 423 

because it is intrinsically in us ; but the bounty of the Father 
makes us possess Christ himself, who is bestowed upon us with 
all his blessings."* Calvin indeed states this, as a point of dif- 
ference not mentioned by Paul. But although not formally 
set forth, it is very clearly intimated, in the phraseology 
of the apostle; and assumed as self-evident, in his argument. 
2. The second point of difference stated by the apostle is this: — 
If Adam was invested with an extraordinary authority and in- 
fluence, such as to ruin a world, — much greater, more amazing, 
and infinitely glorious, is that of the second Adam, by which 
the world thus lost is restored. It is a comparatively easy thing 
to destroy a noble structure. To restore it is a far more signal 
display of power. " If through the offence of one many be dead, 
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by 
one man, Christ Jesus, hath abounded unto many." 3. It is very 
easy to see how one sin is sufficient to destroy all righteousness. 
But in Christ the apparent contradictory of this is exhibited, — 
a righteousness which no amount of sin can destroy, — which 
covers not only the one offence in which sin entered, but 
the many in which it abounds. "Not as it was by one that 
sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one (offence) to 
condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justifi- 
cation." 4. Adam placed the sceptre in the hand of death, and 
cast down his race as bond-slaves to that terrible king. Christ 
rejoices to show his power, not in the enthronement, but destruc- 
tion, of death, and the crowning of the victims, who lay in chains 
beneath his iron sceptre. By the power of the second Adam, the 
prisoners of death reign, kings, in life. "For if by one man's 
offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive 
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign 
in life by one, Jesus Christ." 

The apostle now returns to the comparison which he had inti- 
l 6. Verses mated in the twelfth verse by the adverb "as," but 
18, 19. left unfinished. "As by one man sin entered into 

the world, and death by sin, and so to all men death passed 

* Calvin on the Romans, chap. v. 17. 



424 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

through the one in whom all sinned," — as "by the offence of 
one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by 
the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto 
justification of life;" that is, " justification which is the pledge 
of eternal life." Of this he proceeds to give the reason and 
ground. 

Ver. 19. — " For as by one man's disobedience many [to wit, 
all his natural posterity] were made sinners, so by the obe- 
dience of one shall many [that is, all his seed] be made right- 
eous," being endowed with his righteousness. Having, in the 
preceding verse, stated the fact of condemnation in Adam, and 
justification in the second Adam, he here states the grounds 
of these proceedings. We are condemned in Adam because of 
our communion in his apostasy; justified in Christ by commu- 
nion in his righteousness. The communion in Adam's sin, of 
which Paul here speaks, does not consist in the actings of depra- 
vity in his seed,, severally, — by which, as some pretend, they as- 
sume responsibility for his apostasy, — but in that relation to, and 
inbeing in him, by virtue of which the apostasy was not only his 
sin individually, but theirs also. "By one man's disobedience 
many were made sinners," inasmuch as " in him all sinned." 
" Even so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." 
As Adam's sin, so the righteousness of Christ, is to be viewed 
in several lights. First, and chiefly, it is a controlling principle, 
which, dwelling in the man Christ Jesus, constituted his essential 
righteousness, — that by which he was the express image of the 
Father's person. The Holy Spirit was the efficient cause of this 
principle in Christ ; the power of which produced that perfect 
conformity to the law, in which his active righteousness con- 
sisted. By their union with Christ through the Spirit, his 
people are admitted to share in his property in this his right- 
eousness, — as, in him, it was both essentially and actively a 
conformity to the law; and so justifies those to whom it is 
given ; — whilst, at the same time, the uniting Spirit acts as a 
controlling principle of conformity, which sanctifies those in 
whom he dwells ; — an incorruptible seed that abideth in them, so 
that they cannot sin. When, therefore, Paul says that by the 



sect, vi.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 425 

obedience of one many shall be made righteous, we are not to 
suppose that he meant any thing else than precisely what he 
says. He is not to be understood as confounding the righteous- 
ness which justifies with the judicial decision by which it is 
recognised to justification. In fact, if we will listen to the 
apostle, it would seem that nothing could be more perspicuous 
and perfectly intelligible than his language. His object is to 
show how a sinner can be justified. In general terms, he says 
it resembles the manner of our condemnation in Adam : — " As 
by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condem- 
nation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came 
upon all men unto justification of life." But this is not suffi- 
cient to elucidate the matter. The sentence of the law, whether 
condemnatory or justifying, must have some real ground; since 
the judgment of Grod is according to truth. What, then, is the 
ground of the decisions here stated ? The apostle replies, The 
condemnation is of sinners, for sin. The justification is of right- 
eous ones, for righteousness. For as by one man's disobedience 
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many 
be made righteous. And although the righteousness in which 
they are justified is one infinitely above their power to work for 
themselves, it is as truly and fully theirs, for justification, as 
though of their own working. The free gift is not a pretence, 
but a reality. The righteousness which it bestows is by it made 
truly theirs ; and hence, righteous in it, they cannot but be jus- 
tified at the bar of holiness and truth. 

Thus far, Paul has considered the sin of Adam simply as the 
apostasy which involved him, and, in him, the world, in con- 
a 7 Verses demnation. He now hints that it is to be viewed 
20, 21. not only as a sin common to all, but as embracing 

a principle of active opposition to God, working in the hearts 
of all. The Jews looked to the law as a rule of righteousness, 
by which they must be saved. So far from this being true, says 
the apostle, " the law entered, that the offence might abound," 
(v. 20,) — that the disobedience of Adam might be re-enacted in 
the many actual transgressions of his sons. In the mass of men, 
depravity operates to induce a love of darkness, — an embrace 



426 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

of ignorance, — the effect of which is, comparative unconscious- 
ness of sin. To prevent this, and the apathy consequent on it, 
the law was given on Sinai. By its strict requirements irri- 
tating the depravity of the heart, and by its strait rule detecting 
its perverseness, it convinces of sin, and cuts off from legal 
hopes. It entered, " that the offence might abound," — that the 
depravity of heart which came in by Adam's apostasy, might be 
discovered, and condemned, through the outward transgressions 
induced thereby. " But where sin abounded, grace did much 
more abound." The manner of the recurrence of the word " sin" 
here interchanged with " the offence," intimates that the actual 
sins which, after the similitude of Adam's transgression, men 
commit, have their spring in the depravity which came in by 
his offence, and are witnesses to it. They are the effects of its 
growing power ; each act of transgression giving new proof of 
the energy of corruption, and its growing energy inducing new 
deeds of disobedience. It was among the Jews that the law 
thus caused sin to abound ; and among them grace much more 
abounded, by the coming of Christ, of the seed of Abraham ; and 
by his righteousness, wrought in obedience to that very law of 
Moses, by which sin was made to abound ; " that as sin hath 
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign, through right- 
eousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Thus 
not only does the salvation of Christ provide deliverance from 
the curse of the apostasy, but from that of the depravity and 
open disobedience, thence flowing, in the whole race of man. 
Where sin and death have held their dark dominion, there grace 
has erected her radiant throne ; and, leaning on the arm of 
righteousness, — that righteousness which is God's free gift to 
the sinner, — shall reign over an innumerable throng, endowing 
them with eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

In the argument of the apostle thus far considered, the follow- 
ing points are to be noticed as bearing on the subject of original 

g 8. Doctrine Sm J viz - : ~ 

of this pass- 1. It designates the author of the sin as the one 
age ' man, Adam, acting as head of the race, the imper- 

sonation of (xoajuoz) the world. 



sect, vii.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin, 427 

2. That of which he was the author and originator is not, 
sins, in the plural, but "sin;" and the action in which it ori- 
ginated was "the offence," "the offence of one," "one offence;" 
— and that one as contradistinguished from the " many offences" 
of actual transgressions. The matter, then, of the apostle's 
discussion, is that depravity or sin which, by the one offence, 
entered the world, — the effect of the apostasy of our first parents 
from holiness and God. " Eve is not named," says Van Mas- 
tricht, "because the Hebrews were not accustomed to count 
their genealogies through females ; because Adam was consti- 
tuted the parent and head of the human race by God ; because, 
although at length made husband and wife, they were still con- 
stituted but one public person ; it may be added, because Eve 
was made out of Adam, and dependent on him."* 

3. The sin of the one is predicated of all, because all were in 
that one : — " That one in whom all sinned." This conclusion is 
not vitiated were we to admit the other reading, — " for that all 
sinned." Still would the statement of the apostle remain, — 
that when and where Adam sinned, there and then all sinned ; 
and, when death passed in upon him, it at the same time passed 
through him to all, because all sinned. " In Adam all die." — 
1 Cor. xv. 22. Does the penalty, death, precede the sin ? Or, 
will not the testimony of the apostle be admitted, that they so 
die, because in him they sinned ? 

4. The effect of this community in the one offence, is, that all 
men are in it sinners. "By one man's disobedience many were 
made sinners," "all sinned." It is not of personal sins — of 
actual transgressions — that the apostle here speaks. But it is 
a sin which accounts for the universality of death over all, in- 
fants included, — a sin antedating and accounting for the death 
which in Adam all die, — and can, therefore, be no other than 
that one offence, the apostasy, in which in Adam all sinned. 

5. The consequences which the apostle states, as resulting 
from this universal, all-embracing sin, are, judicial condemna- 
tion and penal death : condemnation, not for other sins, but for 

* Van Mastricht, Lib. iv. ii. 2. 



428 The EloMm Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

this; and death, even to those who have not committed any- 
other. "The judgment was by one offence to condemnation." 
"By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to con- 
demnation." "Through the offence of one, many be dead." 
"By one man's offence death reigned by one man." 

6. The sin which is thus by the apostle exhibited as the one 
offence in which all men sinned, and are condemned, in Adam, 
he also presents as in all men a principle of evil, bringing forth 
deeds of sin. "The offence abounds" in actual sins, — the same 
offence which is the cause of condemnation to Adam and the 
race. The offence was apostasy. The attitude thereby assumed 
was enmity. The effect of the enmity is actual transgressions. 

7. The fundamental principle, — the pivot on which the whole 
argument of the apostle turns is, that "death is the wages of 
sin," (ch. vi. 23), — the penalty annexed by the law to transgres- 
sion. Hence the statement of the twelfth verse, that death en- 
tered the world by sin; and of the fourteenth, that death reigned 
from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the 
similitude of Adam's transgression; a fact which in the fifteenth 
verse he assumes to have proved the universality of the offence. 
Hence the declaration (verse seventeenth) that by one man's 
offence death reigned by one, — an offence by which the next verse 
declares condemnation to have come upon all men. Hence, too, 
the contrast of the twenty-first verse : — " That as sin hath reigned 
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness 
unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Thus, assuming 
that wherever there is death there is sin, the apostle thereby 
finds all men to be sinners ; and, in so doing, shows the propriety 
of a salvation common to all men. In the "all" thus ascertained 
and defined, no line of argument can justly except infants. And, 
if it were possible so to do, it would at once involve their exclu- 
sion from a part in the salvation of Christ ; which, by the whole 
course of reasoning here employed, is proclaimed as embracing 
none who are not embraced in the offence. It is for the offence, 
and to the offenders, that it provides a remedy. 

The Scriptures leave no room for difficulty in ascertaining 
what Paul means by all men being in Adam. In this connection, 



sect, vin.] PauVs Discussion of Original Sin. 429 

it is stated as, in many respects, parallel to the inbeing of 
o or ,. . the regenerate in Christ. " To all men death passed 

2 ». Inbeing in o r 

Adam and in through the one in whom all sinned." " As by the 
Christ. offence of one, judgment came upon all men to con~ 

demnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift 
came upon all men unto justification of life." — v. 18. "There 
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ 
Jesus." — Ch. viii. 1. Such is the parallel. As there is con- 
demnation to all who are in Adam ; so, there is no condemnation 
to those who are in Christ. Here two things are to be observed. 
The first is, that, as must be admitted, the case of our condemna- 
tion in Adam is cited, with express design to illustrate how we 
are justified in Christ. "As by one man condemnation, so by 
one man justification." Or, as the apostle elsewhere says, "As 
in Adam all die, even so in Jesus Christ shall all be made alive." 
— 1 Cor. xv. 22. The second is, that, by being "in Christ," is 
unquestionably meant, a substantial, and not a merely construc- 
tive, relation to him. " To be in Christ Jesus signifies to be inti- 
mately united to him in the way in which the Scriptures teach 
us this union is effected ; viz., by having his Spirit dwelling in 
us. — Bom. viii. 9. The phrase is never used for a merely ex- 
ternal or nominal union. ' If any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature.' — 2 Cor. v. 17. See John xv. 4, &c. ; 1 John ii. 5, iii. 
6."* In the new birth, "by one Spirit are we all baptized 
into one body," "the body of Christ."— 1 Cor. xii. 13, 27. The 
conclusion is therefore inevitable, that, as inbeing in Christ 
is expressive of a real oneness, wrought by the communication 
of the Holy Spirit, the incorruptible seed, imparting a new life 
and nature ; so, inbeing in Adam, by which the other is illustrated 
and set forth by Paul, expresses a real union with him, conse- 
quent upon the generative derivation of life and nature from 
him. That such is the meaning of Paul, is further evident, from 
the fact that inbeing is the established scriptural phrase ex- 
pressive of the relation of the child to the father: — "Levi paid 
tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father 
when Melchizedek met him." — Heb. vii. 9, 10. Compare Gen. 

* Hodge on the Romans, eh. viii. 1; 12mo, 1858, p. 3 81. 



430 The EloJiim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 



xv. 4, xxxv. 11; 2 Kings xx. 18; Isa. li. 1. To the same effect 
are such expressions as that in Job: — "Who can bring a clean 
thing out of an unclean?" — Job xiv. 4. 

Paul, stating that Adam was the type of Christ, runs a 
parallel between them; the main features of which are readily 
traced. The first is, that as Adam's seed were in him, in a 
relation real and substantial, so the seed of Christ are in him, in 
a manner equally real and close. The second point is, that as, 
by virtue of our inbeing in Adam, we hold such a relation to his 
sin as to be for it justly condemned under the curse, — so, be- 
lievers are, by virtue of union with Christ, invested with such a 
property in his righteousness that in it they are justified. Here, 
however, occurs a point of difference, intimated, as we have seen, 
by the form of expression which is used by the apostle. The sin 
of Adam, by which we are brought under condemnation, is ours 
originally, natively and intrinsically ; because we were in and of 
the sinning head, in the transgression ; and the nature which we 
inherit and originally possess is the very nature by which the 
apostasy was wrought. Hence, the offence is immediately and 
natively ours ; and therefore is charged Upon us. As attributed 
to us, it is "the offence." But the righteousness in which we 
are justified is extrinsic and foreign to our nature. We were so 
far from being natively in its author, when he wrought it, that 
our native position toward him is that of alienation and antago- 
nism. And it is only by factitious means, — by renewing influ- 
ences, superimposed upon our nature, — that we are brought into 
a relation of membership in him. The righteousness, therefore, 
of which we become possessed, by union with Christ, is not ours 
in any such sense as though we had a part in the merit of work- 
ing it; but only, as the robe wrought by Christ and bestowed 
by his grace, covers the nakedness of all his members. It is 
ours only as " the free gift." This difference between the nature 
of our relation to Adam and to Christ is emphasized by the 
apostle, in another place, as we shall presently see, by repre- 
senting believers as native branches of the wild olive-tree, which 
are graffed contrary to nature into the good olive. 

The only other point which we shall now specify, in which 



sect, ix.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 431 

the parallel between Adam and Christ holds, is brought out 
more particularly in the following chapters of the epistle, to 
which attention will next be given. It is, that, — as the nature 
which we derive from Adam not only involves us in the guilt 
and condemnation of his apostasy, but remains in us an active 
principle of sin, working unholiness and transgression, — so, the 
Holy Spirit, uniting us to Christ, not only gives us a title in his 
justifying righteousness, but constitutes a principle of holiness, 
operating within, to the utter destruction of sin. This is the 
whole burden of the 6th and 7th chapters; and is the key to 
that expression which is used in the 6th verse of the 6th 
chapter: — "Our old man is crucified with Christ, that the 
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not 
serve sin." This form of expression is familiar to Paul as indi- 
cating that corrupt nature which we derive from Adam, the 
fruits of which are transgression and death. Thus, he exhorts 
the Ephesians, that they "put off, concerning the former con- 
versation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceit- 
ful lusts; . . . and that ye put on the new man, which after 
God is created in righteousness and true holiness." — Eph. iv. 
22-24. So, he says to the Colossians, "Lie not one to another, 
seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds ; and have 
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the 
image of him that created him." — Col. iii. 9, 10. The argu- 
ment of Paul on the subject of the resurrection gives occasion 
to a series of passages, in which the same parallel between the 
first and second Adam is pointedly announced, and much light 
thrown on the other places already quoted. "Since by man 
came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For 
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But 
every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward 
they that are Christ's, at his coming." — 1 Cor. xv. 21-23. Again, 
with a vigour of expression which recognises the existence of 
but two men on earth, — "the first man" and "the second," of 
one or other of whom the rest of the world are but particular 
members, — he says that "the first man Adam was made a living 
soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. . . . The first 



432 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from 
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy ; 
and as is the heavenly, such are thev also that are heavenly." — 
v. 45-48. 

This doctrine of the oneness of the race, in Adam, and of be- 
lievers, in Christ, is brought out by the apostle, again and again, 
in the sequel of this epistle. In the ninth chapter, vindicating 
the sovereignty oi God, which is signalized in the election of 
some and the rejection of others, irrespective of nation or 
family, he describes the whole race as one mass or lump of cor- 
rupt material; from which God, as he sees good, makes vessels 
of mercy and of wrath: — "Hath not the potter power over the 
clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and 
another vessel unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show 
his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long- 
suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction ; and that he 
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of 
mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory; even us, whom 
he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Genti. s 
— Bom. ix. 21-2-1. Here, the human family is represented as a 
unit, — a lump, all depraved, — out of which each individual is 
brought into several existence, and either left to the depravity 
characteristic of the lump, and the perdition appropriate to it; 
or, in the display of the riches of God's infinitely glorious grace, 
prepared unto glory, as a vessel of mercy. 

Again, in the eleventh chapter, in exhibiting the principles of 
God's dealings in rejecting Israel and calling in the Gentiles, the 
apostle pursues a line of argument and illustration which still 
more clearly sets forth our doctrine : — 

Ver. 15. •' If the casting away of them [that is, the Jews] be 
the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them 
be but life from the dead? 16 For if the first-fruit be holy, the 
lump is also holy : and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being 
a wild olive-tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them 
par rakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree ; 13 Boast not 
against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not 



sect, ix.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 433 

the root, but the root thee. 19 Thou wilt say then, The 
branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20 Well ; 
because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by 
faith. Be not highminded, but fear : 21 For if God spared not 
the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God : on them 
which fell, severity ; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue 
in his goodness : otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And 
they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in ; 
for God is able to graff them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut 
out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed, 
contrary to nature, into a good olive-tree; how much more 
shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their 
own olive-tree." 

The comparison employed in the first clause of the 16th verse 
has allusion to that feature of the Mosaic institutions which is thus 
stated in Num. xv. 20, 21 : — " Ye shall offer up a cake of the first 
of your dough for a heave-offering : as ye do the heave-offering 
of the threshing-floor, so shall ye heave it. Of the first of your 
dough ye shall give unto the Lord a heave-offering in your ge- 
nerations." See Lev. xxiii. 14-20. Thus, the first portion of 
bread or dough, dedicated to God, hallowed the whole lump. 
So the patriarchs, being holy to God, constituted their seed his 
people. God claimed them as his ; and would ultimately vindi- 
cate the claim by recalling them from their apostasy, and re- 
storing to them the privileges of his people. " And if the root 
be holy, so are the branches." The same idea is here more fully 
expressed. If the fathers, the root of the stock of Israel, were 
in covenant with God, and, as such, his people; their seed, 
springing from and being in them, as branches in the root, are 
therefore his also. 

In the next verse, and those following, the apostle still further 
expands his illustration and extends its application. Under 
the figure of the good olive-tree, he represents the whole church 
of God, — of which each particular believer is a branch, — all 
possessing one root, one life, and fatness, and fruit. On the 
other hand, the wild olive represents the human family, of 

28 



434 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

which Adam is the root, from whom it derives its vital principle, 
its alien nature and corrupt and poisonous fruit. Here it may 
be objected, that by the root of the good olive-tree is meant 
Abraham, and by the branches, the people of God, considered as 
his seed. This is true, but not the whole truth. Says Henry, 
" The root of this tree was Abraham; not the root of communi- 
cation ; so, Christ only is the root ; but the root of administra- 
tion ; he being the first with whom the covenant was so solemnly 
made." The apostle is not in this place considering so much 
the relation of the church immediately to Christ, as to the 
privileges and promises bestowed upon Abraham. Yet the 
other is not left out of view, but is fundamental to the whole 
case. The principle of unity — that by which all the branches 
have community in the root and fatness of the tree — is certainly 
not the seed of Abraham, but the Spirit of Christ ; and the 
people of God have Abraham for their father only as he was a 
type of Christ, to whom, in him, the promise that he should be 
heir of the world was made, as the apostle elsewhere declares. 
(Gal. iii. 19.) That such is the design of the apostle, is con- 
clusively demonstrated by the whole course of argument which 
he adopts on the subject in the third chapter of the epistle to 
the Galatians : — " " Know ye therefore that they which are 
of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the 
Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen 
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, 
saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they 
which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. . . . 16 Now 
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith 
not, And to seeds, as of many ; but, as of one, And to thy seed ; 
which is Christ. . . . 19 Wherefore then serveth the law ? It was 
added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come, to 
whom the promise was made ; and it was ordained by angels in 
the hand of a mediator. . . . 26 Ye are all the children of God by 
faith in Christ Jesus. Tt For as many of you as have been 
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ^ There is neither Jew 
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male 
nor female ; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be 



sect, ix.] Pauls Discussion of Original Sin. 435 

Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the 
promise." Unquestionably, then, Christ himself is the essential 
root of the good olive, from whom life and fatness flow to all the 
branches, and in whom they "are all one." And to this is parallel 
the wild olive, of which Adam is the root, in whom all his seed 
are one, according to the decree of creation : — "Let us make 
man, and let them have dominion," — G-en. i. 26; and the state- 
ment of Paul : — " God hath made of one blood all nations of 
men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." — Acts xvii. 26. 
"The human family is not only one blood, but the blood of 
Adam is that one blood."* 

Thus everywhere does the apostle hold up the two cases of 
our apostasy, condemnation and death in Adam, and our 
recovery, justification and life in Christ, as parallel to and 
mutually illustrating each other. The conclusion, therefore, is 
unavoidable, that we are guilty in Adam in a way similar to 
that in which we are justified in Christ, with only this difference : 
that in the former case the relation is one native and intrinsic, 
and therefore involves us in the crime and condemnation by an 
immediate judgment proper to us ; in the other, the relation is 
supernatural and by free gift, and therefore the sentence of justi- 
fication is by grace. "But that," says Calvin, " is well known 
to be accomplished, only when Christ, by a wonderful communi- 
cation, transfuses into us the virtue of his righteousness, as it is 
elsewhere said, l The Spirit is life because of righteousness.' "f 

The view here taken of the design and meaning of the lan- 
guage of Paul, is strenuously controverted by a distinguished 
divine and expositor of our own church. Dr. Hodge, in his 
commentary on the epistle to the Romans, enumerates three in- 
terpretations as the leading ones upon the passage in question. 
" 1. Many of the older and also of the more modern commen- 
tators, understand sin here to mean corruption. ... 2. Others 
take the word sin in its ordinary sense, and understand the passage 
as teaching, either that Adam was the cause or occasion of all 
men committing sin, or that sin commenced with him. ... 3. 

* Breckinridge's Knowledge of God Objectively Considered, p. 487. 
f Calvin's Institutes, Book II. i. 6. 



436 The Mohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 



Others again understand the declaration, that through Adam 
sin entered into the world, {i.e. that through him all men 
became sinners,) to mean that on his account they were regarded 
and treated as sinners." Of these interpretations, the first is 
that which is common to the Reformed writers. It is, however, 
misapprehended by Dr. Hodge, as we shall hereafter see. The 
second is that of Pelagius and his followers. The third is 
adopted by Professor Hodge. " The third interpretation, ac- 
cording to which the words in question mean, ' all men are re- 
garded and treated as sinners,' is to be preferred. The verse 
then contains this idea : — ' As by one man all men became sinners 
and exposed to death, and thus death passed on all men, since 
all sinned, — i.e. are regarded as sinners on his account, — even 
so by one man,' &c.*" 

It is with deference that we venture to controvert the exposi- 
tion of this esteemed and distinguished commentator and divine. 
In taking such a position, however, we are fortified by the 
almost unanimous concurrence of the standard writers of the 
Eeformed church, who harmonize with our interpretation of 
Paul. Dr. Hodge's exposition seems to us inconsistent alike 
with the grammatical structure and sense of the passage, and 
with the scope and design of the apostle. 

The statement of Paul is that "by one man sin entered into 
the world, and death by sin, and so to all men death passed 
gio. Hodge on through the one in whom all sinned." According 
the word, sin. to j) r> Hodge, " the verse contains this idea: — 'As 
by one man all men became sinners and exposed to death, and 
thus death passed on all men, since all sinned, — i.e. are regarded 
and treated as sinners on his account, — even so by one man,' &c." 
Our objection to this statement, as an interpretation or exposi- 
tion of the language of the apostle, is precisely the same which 
the respected expositor has expressed, with admirable clearness 
in a somewhat parallel case: — "The two expressions, or de- 
clarations, ' I adopt the system of doctrine contained in the Con- 
fession of Faith,' and 'I adopt that system for substance of doc- 
trine,' are not identical. The one therefore cannot be substituted 

* Hodge on the Romans, pp. 116, 118. 



sect, ix.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 437 

for the other. If there were no other difference between them, 
it is enough that the one is definite and univocal, the other is 
both vague and equivocal."* The language of Paul, in question, 
is remarkable for its simplicity and directness, — the absence of 
any thing like vague, figurative or ambiguous expressions, — the 
distinct demarcation, and logical connection, of the successive 
clauses of the argument, — and the abundant light shed upon it, 
by the amplifications and analogy, which are unfolded in the rest 
of the chapter. The first proposition stated, is, that "by one 
man sin entered into the world." Here, by the noun, sin, it can 
scarcely be questioned, is meant something real, of which en- 
trance into the world is predicable. "Whatever it was, it entered, 
— entered by one man; and brought death in its train, — "death 
by sin." Dr. Hodge here states that by, sin, many understand, 
corruption ; and asserts that, according to this interpretation, the 
passage means that "as by one man corruption of nature was 
introduced into the world, and death as its consequence, and so 
death passed on all men, because all have become corrupt," &c. 
To this he urges several objections, — all based, as we conceive, in 
a misapprehension. Taking the word, sin, to signify corruption, 
the corresponding interpretation of the passage is this : — "As by 
one man corruption entered the world, and death by corruption, 
and so to all men death passed through the one in whom all em- 
braced corruption." The phrase, "all sinned," expresses not 
merely the occurrence of a state, — the becoming corrupt, — but 
active and responsible entrance on it. If, sin, mean corruption, 
then the corresponding sense of the verb, to sin, must be, to act 
corruptly ; and in the present case it is clearly defined to be the 
initial action, — the embrace of it. And such was the interpre- 
tation given by the Eeformed writers. Says Witsius, "It is 
very clear to any not bewitched with prejudice, that when the 
apostle affirms, that, 'all have sinned,' he speaks of an act of 
sinning, or of an actual sin ; the very term, to sin, denoting an 
action. 'Tis one thing, to sin; another, to be sinful; if I may so 
speak."f This interpretation is open to none of the exceptions 

* Princeton Review, 1858, vol. xxx. p. 672. 
f Witsius on the Covenants, book i. viii. 31. 



438 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

stated by our expositor. Its only defect arises from the fact, 
that the word, " corruption/' is not comprehensive enough to be 
an adequate synonym for, sin. Nor is there any in our language ; 
signifying, as does that word, every thing that is of the nature 
of moral evil. Disobedience, unrighteousness, transgression, 
unlawfulness, unholiness, apostasy, corruption, depravity, — all 
are expressed in that one little monosyllable. And in fact the 
Eeformed expositors do not confine themselves to any one of these 
words ; but freely use them all ; not as expressive of different 
things, but of the several aspects of the one moral evil, sin. 
That such is the sense of the word, we have already seen the 
evidence. It is worthy of remark, that Dr. Hodge, after stating 
and rejecting the definitions of others, fails to propose one him- 
self: — "Many of the older and also of the more modern com- 
mentators understand, sin, here to mean corruption. This clause 
would then mean — 'By one man all men became corrupt.' 
Others take the word, sin, in its ordinary sense, and understand 
the passage as teaching, either, that Adam was the cause or oc- 
casion of all men committing sin, or, that sin commenced with 
him; he was the first sinner. Others again understand the de- 
claration that through Adam sin entered the world, (i.e. that 
through him all men became sinners,) to mean that on his ac- 
count they were regarded and treated as sinners."* Adopting 
the latter view, he entirely neglects to show how it is reconcila- 
ble with the language of the apostle, or reducible to the terms 
of his statement, or how, in accordance with it, the word, sin, 
is to be understood. "By one man . . . entered into the world." 
With what, according to this exposition, is the blank to be filled? 
In support of the position that the phrase, "all sinned," means 
merely that all men were regarded and treated as sinners, Dr. 
Hodge appeals to the language of Judah respecting Benjamin: 
— "If I bring him not unto thee, I shall bear the blame;" — lite- 
rally, "I shall have sinned to thee;" — Gen. xliii. 9, xliv. 32; 
and that of Bathsheba : — " I and my son Solomon shall be counted 
offenders;" — literally, "will be sinners." — 1 Kings i. 21. These 
places will be fully considered hereafter. We will only here 

* Hodge on the Romans, p. 116. 



sect, x.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 439 

use the argument of Witsius on the subject: — "'A sinner/ or 
even 'sin/ and 'to sin/ are different things." To establish the 
position of the professor, it is necessary not only to show that 
one of these phrases may be understood in the sense given by 
him, but that all of them must be so interpreted. It must be 
made to appear that, although the Spirit of God asserts sin to 
have entered, — men thus to have become sinners, — death to be 
the wages of sin, and to have entered by it, — death to have 
passed upon all men, through the one in whom all sinned; or, 
because all sinned, — and sin to reign by nature in all; yet in all 
this, there is no real depravity, no sin, contemplated in the case. 
To admit that the word, sin, in the twelfth verse, means real sin, 
involves several pregnant conclusions, which the professor rejects. 
The sin, described in that verse, is represented as a something 
which entered into the world or race of man, and which is the 
cause of death coextensive with the race. If then it is real sin, 
in its origin, it is the real sin of the race. Not only so; but, 
the word being allowed to mean real sin, its derivatives, used as 
they are in intimate connection with it, must be understood in 
a corresponding sense. A sinner, must then be one in whom 
real sin is; and, to sin, must mean, to enact real sin. 

But let us look a little more closely. " On account of Adam's 
an Recarded sm > we are regarded and treated as sinners." Ke- 
and treated a* garded as sinners, by whom? By the all-seeing, 
unite™. ^_q all-wise, the ever true and gracious God. 

Here, then, the question presents itself, — Is the light in which 
God thus regards us, the true light ? If the answer be in the 
affirmative, the question is settled. We are, then, sinners, really 
and truly ; and, therefore, so treated by God. If this alternative 
be denied, — if it be assumed that we are not truly sinners in 
Adam's sin, — we are shut up to the atheistic conclusion, that the 
divine judgment is not according to truth. Whilst thus the 
regarding us as sinners, involves the question of God's infallible 
knowledge, and the truth of his estimates, the treatment of us 
as sinners raises an issue of equal directness in regard to other 
attributes. The declarative righteousness and justice of God 
can consist in nothing else, than his treating his accountable 



440 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

creatures according to fact and truth. Sa) r s Abraham, " That 
be far from thee, to do after this manner, to slay the righteous 
with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the 
wicked, that be far from thee. Shall not the Judge of all the 
earth do right?" — Gen. xviii. 25. If, then, God treats us as 
sinners, there is but one alternative, — either to impeach his jus- 
tice, or to confess that we are sinners. 

There is an apparent incompatibility in the various statements 
of the respected expositor, which makes it difficult to determine 
the precise sense in which he is to be understood. "All men are 
regarded and treated as sinners." Such is his interpretation 
of Paul. But what does it mean ? Does God really consider 
all men as, in Adam's sin, transgressors and criminals ? Are 
they looked upon as partakers in the moral enormity of his 
deed ? Does its turpitude attach to them ? This, Dr. Hodge 
strenuously denies. '•'There is no transfer of the moral turpi- 
tude of Adam's sin to his descendants." His sin " is not 
properly the sin of all men," and God does not so consider it. 
What, then, is meant by God regarding them as sinners ? How 
are we to understand the language thus employed ? What more 
does it mean, than that they are so treated ? 

It may be said, that the Lord Jesus Christ was regarded and 
treated as a sinner. To this proposition, however, we most em- 
phatically except. He was regarded and treated no otherwise, than 
as being precisely what he was, the Father's spotless Son, the spon- 
taneous substitute, the vicarious sacrifice for sinners. But, that 
he was regarded and treated by the Father as a sinner, — Never ! 
So far the reverse, that, whilst fulfilling his atoning work, he 
had the repeated attestation of the Father, that he was the 
beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased. In Gethsemane 
itself, heavenly messengers manifested the Father's love. True, 
" it pleased the Lord to bruise him." But an essential feature 
in the case, the grand causative element in its glorious cha- 
racter, was his recognised innocence ; " because he had done no 
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." — Isa. liii. 9. 

But is it not said that the Lord "made him to be sin for us"? 
2 Cor. v. 21. True ; nor is there any difficulty in ascertain- 



sect, xi.] Pauls Discussion of Original Sin. 441 

ing the meaning of the place. The expression is the constantly 
a 12. Christ accepted phrase employed in the Mosaic law, to 






xdesin" indicate the devoting of a thing as a vicarious 
f or us - atoning sacrifice for sin. Thus, Lev. iv. 25 : — " The 

priest shall take (flKBnri Di? d-b tou diaazoc, zo~j t9jc dpapzia^) of 
the blood of the sin." Lev. v. 9: — "He shall sprinkle of the 
blood of the sin upon the side of the altar ; and the rest of the 
blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar; for 
(ran naan) it is sin." See also Lev. iv. 3, 29, v. 12, viii. 2; 
Psalm xl. 7 ; Ezek. xliii. 22, 25, xliv. 29, xlv. 22, 23, 25, &c. Thus 
does the apostle use the very same expression in regard to 
Christ, and in the same sense, which the Spirit of God habitually 
uses, when he says of the sacrificial sin offering, " It is sin." " Him 
who knew no sin he hath made to be a sin-offering for us, that 
we might become the righteousness of God in him." An undue 
stress is sometimes put upon the antithesis which is apparent 
in the text. The correspondence between the two members of 
the sentence, is not at all so strong in the original, as in the 
translation. The language of the apostle is, that "him who 
knew no sin {ejzoiqaev) he hath made sin for us, that (ycvcouzda) 
we might become the righteousness of God in him." The phrase- 
ology of the former clause is expressive of that efficient action, 
by which God gave his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. 
That of the latter indicates entrance upon a state, the acquisi- 
tion of a new life of holiness by virtue of inbeing in Christ; as 
the apostle has previously testified, that, " If any man be in Christ, 
he is a new creature." — v. 17. There is nothing in the whole 
connection to require the phrase in question to be interpreted in 
any other than its well-known and established sense: — "He hath 
made him to be a sin-offering." The expression being sacer- 
dotal, in its idiomatic use, — familiar to Paul, as such, in the Old 
Testament Scriptures, from which he continually derives his illus- 
trations respecting the person and work of Christ, — and used by 
him in reference to Christ's sacrificial work, — it is unreasonable to 
suppose, without necessity, that he would depart from the accepted 
meaning. " Paul, viewing Christ according to the common and 
received mode of speaking, here represents him as having been 



442 The EloJdm Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

made sin ; not because lie was accounted a sinner by men, which 
some injudiciously suppose; for here the subject is respecting God's 
tribunal, and not men's ; — nor because he was made in the likeness 
of sinful flesh, as Paul elsewhere says, — Rom. viii. 3; as supposed 
by others ; for this is too weak to correspond with the vigour of 
Paul's expression ; for it is one thing to bear the likeness of sin- 
ful flesh, another to be made sin ; — but because he bore all the 
punishment of sin, imposed upon him as an expiatory victim, so 
that by the sweet-smelling sacrifice of the cross he might satisfy 
the Most High and purge our sins."* Owen, objecting to this 
interpretation, asserts that the authors of the Septuagint " render 
riNDn constantly by dpapzca, where it signifies, sin ; where it 
denotes, an offering for sin, and they retain that word, they do it 
by 7TEpc dpapriac, an elliptical expression, which they invented 
for that which they knew hfiaprta of itself neither did nor could 
signifie. Lev. iv. 3, 14, 32, 35 ; v. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 ; vi. 30 ; viii. 2. 
And they never omit the preposition, unless they name the sacri- 
fice; as fibayo- zr^ duapzia^. ,, -\ Owen has most unaccountably 
mistaken the facts in this statement. In several of the texts 
which he enumerates, it is not the offering, but the sin, that is 
designated by auaoz:a:. Thus, Lev. iv. 35 : — " And the priest 
shall make atonement (nepe zv^ Auaorlac f^ Vjuapze) for his sin 
which he has sinned." Owen asserts that the seventy " never 
omit the preposition, unless they name the sacrifice." We have 
already appealed to a sufficient number of examples, — which 
might be multiplied, — to prove, that, so far from being unex- 
ampled, it is a common usage, to omit both the preposition, and 
the name of the sacrifice. One of the very texts enumerated by 
Owen disproves his assertion. Lev. v. 9 : — " He shall sprinkle 
of the blood of the sin-offering upon the side of the altar; and 
the rest of the blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the 
altar, (apapzla yap tori) for it is sin." Wherever Ttepl apapzeaz 
has reference to the offering, the preposition is introduced as 
a connective between dpapzca, sin, and the name of the sacrifice, 
either expressed or implied by the use of adjectives and the 

* Turrettinus de Satisf. Ckristi, Disp. iv. g 32. 

| Owen on Justification, chap. xvii. Board of Pub., page 390. 



sect, xii.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 443 

article. Tims, Lev. iv. 3 : — Mbayov Tzepc zr^ bpaprcas ; vi. 30, 
Kal n&vroL ra Tiepc rr^ dptapzeae, &c. There is no appearance of 
such an invented phrase as Owen speaks of. The preposition is 
only used where the structure of the language demands it. 

Whatever be the conclusion of the reader on this subject, one 
thing is certain, — that when it is said that " by one man sin en- 
tered into the world," that "in him all sinned," and that "by 
one man's disobedience many were made sinners," a relation to 
Adam's sin is indicated, to which that of Christ to ours presents 
no parallel. On this point, the remarks of Owen are conclusive. 
In reply to objections urged by Bellarmine, he says : — 

" 1. Nothing is more absolutely true, nothing is more sacredly 
or assuredly believed by us, than that nothing which Christ did 
or suffered, nothing that he undertook or underwent, did or 
could constitute him subjectively, inherently, and thereon per- 
sonally, a sinner, or guilty of any sin of his own. To bear the 
guilt or blame of other men's faults, to be alienee culpw reus, 
makes no man a sinner ; unless he did unwisely or irregularly 
undertake it. But, that Christ should admit of any thing of 
sin in himself, as it is absolutely inconsistent with the hypo- 
statical union, so, it would render him unmeet for all other duties 
of his office. Heb. vii. 25, 26. And, I confess, it hath always 
seemed scandalous unto me that Socinus, Crellius, and Grotius, 
do grant that, in some sense, Christ offered for his own sins ; 
and would prove it from that very place wherein it is positively 
denied, — Heb. vii. 27. This ought to be sacredly fixed, and not 
a word used, nor thought entertained, of any possibility of the 
contrary, upon any supposition whatever. 

" 2. in one ever dreamed of a transfusion or propagation of 
sin from us unto Christ, such as there was from Adam unto us. 
For Adam was a common person unto us ; we are not so to 
Christ; yea, he is so to us; and the imputation of our sins unto 
nim is a singular act of divine dispensation ; which no evil con- 
sequence can ensue upon."* 

In support of the position that we are not sinners in Adams 
sin, Dr. Hodge appeals to Owen, with the assertion that, " It 

* Ibid. Ch. viii. p. 226. 



444 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

is one of his standing declarations, ' To be alienee eulpee reus, 
makes no man A sinner/ "* Owen's doctrine is true. But the 
very question at issue is, whether the sin of Adam is to us 
aliena culpa, a foreign crime. What the mind of that distin- 
guished divine was, on this point, is apparent from the above 
extract. The reader will also observe how broad the line which 
Owen draws between our relation to Adam's sin and that of 
Christ to ours. 

Our author's exposition of the nineteenth verse is equally 
objectionable with that already considered. The apostle having 
in the twelfth verse, asserted both the condemnation to death 
and its cause, recurs, in the eighteenth, to this point, and states 
the former, in a parallel with justification: — "As by the offence 
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so 
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto 
justification of life." But here the question arises, How is it 
consistent with truth and justice that many should be condemned 
by the offence of one; and, on the other hand, many, who are 
sinners, be justified by the righteousness of one ? The apostle 
answers, It is upon sufficient grounds. " For as by one man's 
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of 
one shall many be made righteous." Here it is well said by 
Calvin, " This is not tautology ; but the necessary declaration 
of the important truth, that the offence of one man proves us so 
sunk in guilt that we cannot be innocent. He had before said 
that we were condemned ; but, to prevent us from daring to claim 
innocence as our own, he determined also to subjoin the univer- 
sal condemnation of every individual of the human race, because 
he is a sinner. When he afterwards declares that we are made 
righteous by the obedience of Christ, we hence infer that Christ 
has procured righteousness for us because he has satisfied his 
Father. Hence it follows that righteousness exists in Christ as 
a quality ; but what is his peculiar property is considered as 
bestowed on us believers, "f 

By Dr. Hodge, this view is rejected, and the two verses are 
represented as essentially the same in their meaning. The only 

* Hodge, 8vo ed. p. 223. f Calvin on the Romans, ch. v. 19. 



sect, xii.] Paul's Discussion of Original Sin. 445 

difference is that, in the eighteenth, the idea of treating men as 
sinners and as righteous is the more prominent; and, in the 
nineteenth, the regarding them as such. " Yet it is only a 
greater degree of prominency to the one, and not the exclusion 
of the other, that is in either case intended."* The only argu- 
ments by which this view is sustained are two. The first is the 
assumption that the phrase to "make sinners," according to 
scriptural usage, merely means to regard and treat as sinners, 
without involving moral criminality. This has been sufficiently 
considered. The second consists in the assumption that there 
are but three modes of interpretation possible ; which the pro- 
fessor thus states : — " If the first clause [of the nineteenth verse] 
means either that the disobedience of Adam was the occasion 
of our committing sin, or that it was the cause of our becoming 
inherently corrupt, and on the ground of these sins, or of this 
corruption, being condemned, then must the other clause mean 
that the obedience of Christ is the cause of our becoming holy, 
or performing good works, on the ground of which we are justi- 
fied." Kejecting this, he adopts, as the only alternative, the 
view above presented. But, as we have seen, we are not reduced 
to such an alternative. As Adam's disobedience made himself 
a sinner, so did it make all those to be sinners who were in him ; 
not only as it caused in them a corrupt and sinful nature, but 
primarily and chiefly as it involved them in the crime of the 
apostasy, by which they were depraved and corrupted. So, 
Christ's righteousness makes his people righteous, not only as it 
is in them a sanctifying principle, but, first and principally, and 
to the purpose of justification, solely, as it is a real conformity 
to the law ; which the free gift makes to be truly, and in all 
its meritorious preciousness, theirs. And this is that rational 
ground of justification to which the apostle alludes when he 
says, "The free gift came upon all men to justification; for by 
one man's obedience many shall be made righteous." 
§ 13. Scope of The scope of the apostle's argument, and the con- 
tJie apostle. elusions at which he aims, seem to us altogether at 
variance with the interpretation embraced by Dr. Hodge. He 

f Hodge, pp. 131-132. 



446 The fflohim Pceveahxl [chap. xiv. 

takes the ground that Paul simply teaches it to be a conse- 
quence of Adam's sin that all men are regarded and treated as 
though they had sinned. The apostle certainly does, in various 
forms, assert men to be thus treated. " Death passed upon all 
men." " Death reigned from Adam to Moses." "Many be 
dead." "The judgment was to condemnation" upon all men. 
Thus, undoubtedly, are we taught that all are regarded and 
treated as sinners; for death is the wages of sin. But is this 
all he teaches? In view of such an array of facts, the question 
arises in every heart, Why is this treatment? Dr. Hodge 
replies, as an interpreter of Paul, It is because they are 
regarded and treated as sinners ! A multitude are assembled 
around the place of execution ; a prisoner is on the scaffold ; the 
cord is adjusted ; the drop falls ; and he is launched into 
eternity. All this is because he is regarded and treated as a 
murderer. But why is he thus treated? Paul tells us, — 
" Death passed to all men through the one in whom all sinned ;" 
or, as Dr. Hodge prefers, "for that all sinned." "By the dis- 
obedience of one, many were made sinners." Nay, further, he 
asserts "that until the law sin was in the world;" and, if any 
one should question the assertion, plants himself upon the fact 
that they were treated as sinners by the unerring justice of 
God. "Death reigned;" and, therefore, unquestionably, they 
over whom his sceptre was swayed must have been sinners. 
Such is Paul's argument. 

It is remarkable that our commentator distinctly lays down 
this very principle, and yet fails to see the inevitable conse- 
quences. " The execution of the penalty of a law cannot be 
more extensive than its violation ; and consequently, if all are 
subject to penal evils, all are regarded as sinners in the sight of 
God. This universality in the infliction of penal evil cannot be 
accounted for on the ground of the violation of the law of 
Moses, since men were subject to such evil before that law was 
given ; nor yet on account of the violation of the more general 
law written on the heart, since even they are subject to this evil 
who have never personally sinned at all. We must conclude, there- 
fore, that men are regarded and treated as sinners on account 



sect, xiii.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 447 

of the sin of Adam."* Here the principle is truly « dated, as 
fundamental to the apostle's argument, that "the execution of 
the penalty of a law cannot be more extensive than its violation." 
"We conclude therefore," since all men in Adam die: — what? — 
That all are, in him, violators of the law? "ISTo," says the 
professor; "Adam's sin was not personally or properly the sin 
of all men." But "we conclude that men are regarded and 
treated as sinners on account of the sin of Adam." Can any 
thing be more plain than the discrepancy between the propo- 
sition and the inference here stated ? " The execution of the 
penalty of a law cannot be more extensive than its violation;" 
therefore the penalty is executed on the posterity of Adam, 
although they are not violators of the law under the curse of 
which they suffer ! In fact, the major premise is precisely 
equivalent to saying that men cannot be regarded and treated 
as sinners unless they are so. This, indeed, is true ; and is the 
doctrine of the apostle. But how is it to be reconciled with the 
interpretation before us ? 

The parallel which Paul draws between Adam and Christ, is 
irreconcilable with the doctrine set forth by our expositor. That 
parallel, as we have already seen, is stated distinctly, in its several 
1 14. Parallel elements, with, the points of difference defined. 
of Adam and Briefly, to our present purpose, it comprehends 
Chri8t the following points. Through Adam, death flows to 

all his seed ; through Christ, the gift, eternal life. (v. 12-15 ; 
ch. vi. 23.) This death, in Adam, results from a judicial sen- 
tence of condemnation; and the life in Christ, from one of justi- 
fication, (v. 18.) The ground of these sentences, Paul states 
distinctly, introducing it by the particle "for," expressive of the 
judicial reasons of the proceeding thus stated. " For as by one 
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience 
of one shall many be made righteous." All this implies a real 
and substantial union between these several heads and their re- 
presentative bodies, which, accordingly, the apostle asserts. 
"Adam, in whom all sinned." — v. 12. "In Adam all die." — 1 
Cor. xv. 22. " There is no condemnation to them which are in 

28 * Hodge, p. 133. 



448 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

Christ Jesus." — Bom. viii. 1. Dr. H. denies any " mysterious 
oneness" between us and Adam, by which his sin is really and 
criminally ours. By parity of reasoning, a similar denial 
should be made in the case of Christ and his people. But, 
here, the professor takes the opposite position: — "To be in 
Christ Jesus signifies to be intimately united to him in the way 
in which the Scriptures teach us this union is effected, viz., by 
having his Spirit dwelling in us. The phrase is never expressive 
of a merely external or nominal union."* Thus we are justified, 
not by Christ's righteousness extrinsic to us and only nominally 
ours, but the " law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath 
made me free from the law of sin and death." — Bom. viii. 1, 2. 
The power of the Spirit of Christ was the law or principle of 
holiness in him, the cause of the righteousness of the Mediator ; 
and that Spirit, given to us, and uniting us to him, conveys a 
title in that righteousness thus wrought in him. Thus are 
we made righteous, not only as we are created unto holiness, nor 
by a constructive process merely ; but by a real property in the 
righteousness of our Head. But all this involves the conclu- 
sion that our inbeing in Adam, the type of Christ, is neither 
external nor nominal, any more than is the other. As, in Christ, 
we are really endowed with his righteousness, and in it are jus- 
tified; so, in Adam, we are truly sinners, and, therefore, justly 
condemned. 

It is objected, that this would imply that the righteousness of 
Christ is a proper ground of self-complacency, in those to whom 
I 15. Compia- it is imputed. f The phrase is ambiguous, as we 
ceney in Christ's shall presently see. But surely that righteousness 

righteousness. , ....... -.-. -1-1 ■, 

loses none of its intrinsic excellence and glory by 
reason of its bestowal upon me. Nor, because it is mine, is it 
any the less my privilege and duty to admire and boast of it. 
To look upon it and feel respecting it as if it were foreign to me, 
when in fact it is upon me, and belongs to me by the indwelling 
of the Holy Spirit, making me a member of Christ, is so far 
from a becoming humility, that it would be believing a lie, to the 
great injury of the soul. There are two selves in the believer, — 

* Ibid. p. 181. f Ibid. p. 135. 



sect, xiv.] Paul's Discussion of Original Sin. 449 

the old man, and the new. The one is his nature as received 
from Adam ; by virtue of which he has communion in Adam. 
The other is that new nature received from Christ, by which he 
is a member of Christ's glorious body. If the believer views 
himself aright, it must always be as thus truly one with Christ, 
a member of the body, a branch of the vine ; and thus endowed 
with an essential and indefeasible property in the righteousness 
of the Head. To cherish a complacency in respect to that right- 
eousness, as if it were a private and several property, would 
indeed be to trust in a lie. So it would be a false and impossible 
remorse, which should assume the apostasy of Adam to be a 
private, several and personal sin of the several posterity of 
Adam, instead of being common and native. But, on the con- 
trary, in both instances, the proper exercises of the soul are 
indicated, by the fact of our real and substantial communion in 
the nature that sinned, and in that which wrought the right- 
eousness, in which we are justified. That this does imply and 
require complacence in that which thus by grace we are, it will 
hardly be necessary to prove. "In the Lord shall all the seed 
of Israel be justified, and shall glory." — Isa. xlv. 25. Paul 
says, "I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago, . . . 
caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it 
is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one will I glory; 
yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities." — 2 Cor. 
xii. 2-5. Listen, too, to the departing song of the same apostle, 
who was privileged with this heavenly vision : — " I am now 
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- 
eousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at 
that day." — 2 Tim. iv. 6-8. So the beloved disciple exhorts us : — 
"Little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we 
may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his 
coming." — 1 John ii. 28. The child of Cod may not cherish 
self-complacency; if, by that phrase, is meant, a confidence in 
the flesh. But it is not only his privilege, but his duty, to cherish 
a complacence in that which by grace he is. This, in fact, is 

29 



450 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

essential to true humility. The opposite is not grace, but ingra- 
titude. Here, however, let it also be considered, that, if glory- 
ing in Christ is our duty and privilege, much more does it become 
us to bewail with contrite penitence our apostasy in Adam. As 
we have seen, we are natively and intrinsically in Adam; but, 
in the second Adam, altogether supernaturally, and by special 
grace. 

The interpretation here considered is further exceptionable, as 
it ignores and, in a great measure, obliterates a fundamental 
1 16. Relation idea, which runs through the entire argument of 
of this theory the apostle. It is, that the deed of Adam was not 
to t efaii. on jy an ac £ Q £ transgression, but an apostasy and 
depravation of the whole nature, — not of the individual Adam, 
but, of man. That this is Paul's doctrine, we have already seen. 
He carefully discriminates between the personal act of Adam, 
and the radical evil, which was involved in it. The former, he 
calls, "the offence," "the transgression," "the disobedience." 
The latter, he designates by one word, — sin; and the manner in 
which that noun, and the verb, to sin, are used by him, in the 
whole closely connected argument of this and the following 
chapters, leaves no room to doubt what he means by it. It can 
scarcely be questioned, that the word means the same thing, 
throughout the entire connection. And it is not possible to 
deny, that, in the latter part of it, the thing meant is that in- 
dwelling depravity, which "is enmity against God," (viii. 7), 
which wields a dominating power over the unregenerate, is the 
cause of all actual sin, (vii. 5), and involves those in whom it 
dwells in God's inevitable and righteous curse. Yet, scarcely 
does Dr. Hodge find allusion to the entrance of depravity in 
verse 12, nor any recognition of its presence, in the chapter. 
His only remark, on the subject, is, that "it is probable Paul 
meant to express, in the first instance, [in the twelfth verse,] 
the general idea, that all men fell in Adam; which includes the 
idea both of loss of holiness, and of subjection to the penal con- 
sequences of sin. It will appear, however, in the sequel, that 
the latter is altogether the more prominent idea."* So little in- 

* Hodge, p. 116. 



sect, xv.] Paul's Discussion of Original Sin. 451 

nuence does he allow the former idea, that, with this hint, it is 
dismissed; and the discussion of the rest of the chapter pro- 
ceeds upon the supposition that all which is in the apostle's 
mind is an hereditary punishment, to which, in consequence of 
Adam's sin, we, although not morally chargeable with that sin, 
are exposed. 

But we will not further insist on these and other points, which 
might be mentioned. Enough, we trust, has been presented, to 
justify the conclusion, that the learned and excellent com- 
mentator has taken a mistaken view of the passage in question; 
and that the old interpretation is to be preferred. 

Having shown the power of Christ's gospel to justify, alike 
from the guilt of Adam's apostasy and that of a depraved nature 
1 17. Chap- and actual sins thence resulting, the apostle proceeds 
ter vi. i n the sixth chapter to display its power in eradi- 

cating the depravity, — in removing the principle of apostasy, from 
the heart. He introduces this subject by raising a question 
which naturally suggests itself: — "If it be so that the abound- 
ing of sin has given occasion to grace to abound, in freeing men 
from its curse, shall we not continue in sin, that grace may yet 
more and more abound?" The answer to this question gives 
occasion to the unfolding of the nature and extent of man's 
native bondage to depravity, which involves a necessity of 
sanctifying power in the salvation of Christ, as the curse in- 
curred renders necessary a righteousness for justification. In 
the beginning of the sixth chapter, he shows that such is the 
manner in which an interest in the salvation is imparted, that 
the continuance of a love of sin in the heart of the Christian is a 
contradiction in terms. Ch. vi. : — ul What shall we then say? 
Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound ? 2 God forbid : 
How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" 
He then appeals to the nature of regeneration, in which "by 
one Spirit we all are baptized into one body, — the body of 
Christ, — and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." — - 
1 Cor. xii. 12, 13, 27. " 3 Know ye not that so many of us as 
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? 
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death;"— 



452 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

and the design of this is our deliverance, not from the curse 
only, but from the power of sin, — "that like as Christ was 
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we 
also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been joined 
with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the 
likeness of his resurrection : 6 Knowing this, that our old man" — 
our depraved nature, received from the first Adam — " is cruci- 
fied with him," — hostility to it was the motive, its guilt the 
cause, and its destruction the design of his death on the cross ; 
and if we be united to him we acquire his mind of hostility to 
it, and a right to and interest in his redemption from it, — "that 
the body of sin" — the incorporated system of corrupt disposi- 
tions — "might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not 
serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin." He that 
by baptism into Christ's death is dead with him, is free from 
the dominion of corruption. " 8 Now if we be [thus] dead with 
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him ; 9 Knowing 
that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death 
hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he 
died unto sin once ; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto 
sin, but alive unto God (iv Xpi^w ' Ir t as) in Jesus Christ our 
Lord." 

Paul then urges the saints that they should resist and subdue 
the dominating power of sin within, as they are thus bought 
with a price, and called to holiness : — " 12 Let not sin therefore 
reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts 
thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of 
unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as 
those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instru- 
ments of righteousness unto God : 14 For sin shall not have do- 
minion over you : for ye are not under the law, but under grace." 
If you are indeed alive unto God, submit not to those lusts which 
incur death, and use as their instrument that body which is 
doomed to dissolution and must soon crumble to dust. " Neither 
yield ye your members to sin, as instruments of unrighteousness : 
but yield yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the 



sect, xvii.] PauVs Discussion of Original Sin. 453 

dead, and your members to God, as instruments of righteousness. 
For sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are not under 
the law, but under grace." 

Here again arises a similar question to that which was pro- 
posed at the beginning of the chapter : — If we are free from the 
law, then may we not sin with impunity ? " 15 What then ? 
shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace ? 
God forbid!" For this would be to make your liberty an oppor- 
tunity for selling yourselves into a most degrading bondage. 
" 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to 
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto 
death, or of obedience unto righteousness ? ir But God be 
thanked, that ye were the servants of sin ; but ye have obeyed 
from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of 
righteousness." He therefore exhorts them that as they have 
formerly yielded their members servants to uncleanness and 
iniquity, to the working of iniquity, so now they should yield 
their members to what the infirmity of their flesh constrains 
him to illustrate by calling it a servitude to holiness, though it 
is the noblest liberty. This persuasion he further urges by an 
appeal to the results which flow severally from the two alterna- 
tives, — from the one, death; from the other, eternal life : — u19 I 
speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your 
flesh : for as ye have yielded your members servants to unclean- 
ness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your 
members servants to righteousness, unto holiness. 20 For when 
ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now 
ashamed ? for the end of those things is death. ffl But now 
being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have 
your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For 
the wages of sin is death : but the gift of God is eternal life, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

I is. Chap- The apostle then, in the seventh chapter, illus- 

tervii. trates the emancipation from the law, of which he 

has discoursed, by reference to the marriage tie, which only holds 



454 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

for life; beyond which the authority of the relation ceases. 
So the people of Christ, — once married to the law, — being united 
to him, become interested in that death, by which he exhausted 
the law's demands, and escaped from its authority. They are 
therefore now dead to the law, — free from its chains; and at 
liberty to join themselves to Christ for sanctification. Chap. vii. 
111 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the 
law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he 
liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband, is bound by 
the law to her husband so long as he liveth ; but if the husband 
be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then, 
if while her husband liveth she be married to another man, she 
shall be called an adulteress : but if her husband be dead, she is 
free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be 
married to another man. 4 "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are 
become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should 
be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, 
that we should bring forth fruit unto God." His Spirit, dwell- 
ing and ruling within, the result must needs be the fruit 
of the Spirit. To understand the precise force of the illus- 
tration here employed, two or three things must be noticed. 
The apostle, having developed the fact that the first man, Adam, 
was he by whom sin entered into the world, and the second 
Adam he by whom came righteousness, assumes, as an element 
of his argument, the doctrine of Christ to Nicodemus, "that 
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the 
Spirit is spirit." — John iii. 6. The "flesh" thus derived by birth 
from Adam he otherwise designates as "the old man;" by both 
of these expressions indicating its derivation from Adam, and, 
through it, our identity in him. It is also called "the body of 
sin;" and the principle which prevails in and through it is de- 
signated as "the law in the members," and "the law of sin and 
death." On the other hand, the new nature, which is implanted 
by the Spirit of Christ, is variously designated, as "the new 
man," "the inward man," "the spirit," and "I myself;" and its 
controlling influence is called "the law of the mind," and "the 
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Thus, in the conti- 



sect, xvii.] Paul's Discussion of Original Sin. 455 

nuous life of the same individual, does the apostle describe two 
distinct and successive identities, — the old man and the new. 
The old man is married to the law, and so holds natural men 
under its bonds, working in their members to bring forth fruit 
unto death. In the regenerate, this old man, being crucified 
with Christ, (ch. vi. 6,) is dead. But it was only through it, 
as married to the law, that they were ever subject to the law's 
bondage. Hence, "that being dead wherein they were held," 
the death of the party dissolves the bond; and they in whom 
the old man once dwelt, through which the bondage was upon 
them, are thus delivered from the law; and are married to 
Christ. The consequence is, that the law no longer exerts over 
them its irritating power, to the arousing of sin into activity. 
" 5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were 
by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto 
death : 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead 
wherein we were held ; that we should serve in newness of spirit, 
and not in the oldness of the letter." 

The apostle then shows, that all this implies no disparagement 
to the law; that, on the contrary, the law is of essential import- 
ance, even as auxiliary to the gospel; serving as a schoolmaster, 
to bring us to Christ. This it does, by uncovering and detecting 
indwelling sin. For such is the deceitfulness of sin, that it lies 
concealed in the heart, until thus discovered. " 7 What shall we 
say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay, I had not known 
sin, but by the law : for I had not known lust, except the law 
had said, Thou shalt not covet. 8 But sin, taking occasion by 
the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. 
For without the law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without 
the law once * but when the commandment came, sin revived, and 
I died. 10 And the commandment which was ordained to life, I 
found to be unto death. u For sin, taking occasion by the com- 
mandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. 12 Wherefore the 
law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God for- 
bid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by 
that which is good ; that sin by the commandment might become 



456 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

exceeding sinful," This, as applying to the conversion and sanc- 
tification of every believer, Paul illustrates by his own example, 
through the rest of the chapter. He shows indwelling sin to 
be a law or principle of depravity, which resists the power of 
grace, — prevents conformity to the holy law, in which the heart 
of the Christian delights, — works deeds of transgression, — shows 
itself in its true colours, as sin, working death, by occasion of 
the presence of a good and holy law, — and induces intense dis- 
tress in the heart of the child of God, by the conflict between 
holy and unholy principles, thus occurring; — a conflict from 
which there is no hope of deliverance, except by the power of 
Christ's Spirit, destroying utterly the body of sin. " 14 For we 
know that the law is spiritual : but I am carnal, sold unto sin. 
15 For that which I do, I allow not ; for what I would, that do I 
not ; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I 
would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then 
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I 
know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: 
for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is 
good I find not. 19 For the good that I would, I do not ; but the 
evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would 
not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I 
find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with 
me. 21 For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man : 
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law 
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin 
which is in my members. 2i wretched man that I am ! who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death ? * I thank God, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I my- 
self serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." 
"0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?" — Thus, in 
anguish of spirit, the apostle looks to the law; but it offers no 
remedy. In his despair, his eye falls upon the cross, and his cry 
of distress is changed to exultant strains of thanksgiving and 
praise: — " I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." In 
him is deliverance from the dominion of sin, as well as from the 
terror of the curse. 



sect, xviii.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 457 

In the beginning of the eighth chapter, the conclusions 
flowing from the whole argument are rapidly summed up. 
Paul announces justification: — " There is now no condemna- 
tion." The ground of it is inbeing in Christ; the proof and 
consequence of which is holy living, (v. 1). That this is so, 
results from the activity of a new principle, — "the law of the 
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," by which believers are freed 
from the prevailing power — the law, of sin and death, (v. 2). 
Thus, that deliverance from the power of depravity, which 
confessedly the law never could accomplish, is wrought by 
Christ, — by his example and sufferings condemning sin, and 
by his Spirit freeing his people from it. The result is, that the 
world is divided into two, and but two, classes; — not Jews and 
Gentiles ; but those who are in the flesh, in their natural state, 
as children of Adam; in whom the offence reigns; whose hearts 
are enmity against God and his law; and who are consequently 
under the curse; — and those who are Christ's; in whom his 
Spirit dwells; who consequently are sons of God, live in holi- 
ness, are free from the curse, and heirs of immortality. 

In the argument of the apostle, at which we have thus taken 
a rapid glance, the following points bear upon our inquiry. 

1. He describes sin as a law, existing natively in the souls of 
the posterity of Adam. A law is a controlling principle, which 
„,„ mi , has within itself the cause of its efficiency. Thus, a 

g 19. The doe- .. - . - 

trine. Sin, an preceptive law is "a mandate of some person or 
indwelling power, whose precept carries with it the reason of 
pow obedience,"* — that is, the authority of the lawgiver; 

the law of gravitation is a principle in bodies, which is in itself 
the cause of their tending toward each other. So, by the apostle, 
the word is used in several applications, but always in the same 
sense. He speaks of the law of God, — meaning that holy, just 
and good commandment, which has in it the divine authority 
as the cause of its dominion. He mentions a "law of his mind," 
(vii. 23), which he otherwise calls "the law of the Spirit of life 
in Christ Jesus," (viii. 2), which is nothing else than the omni- 
potent power of the Holy Spirit, dwelling in, ruling and sancti- 

* Chambers's Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. 



458 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

fying believers. As opposed to this, lie describes "a law in his 
members;" which he further characterizes as "a law of sin," 
(vii. 23), and, again, as "a law of sin and death," (viii. 2). This 
he represents as exerting such a power, that when he would do 
good, evil is present with him, (vii. 21), — an energy which 
brings him into a captivity so absolute and helpless as to 
extort from him the anguished cry, "0 wretched man that I 
am! who shall deliver me?" — to which he finds no response 
of hope but in the omnipotent power of the Spirit of Christ, 
(vii. 25; viii. 2, 4, 9, 10). 

Sin is, in other terms, described as a dominating power, which 
is absolute in the unregenerate, and active in Christians. Thus 
the apostle asserts the design of Christ's death to be the destruc- 
tion of the dominion of sin in his people: — "that henceforth we 
should not serve sin," (vi. 6). He declares that they once "were 
the servants of sin," (vi. 17, 20); accuses himself as being, in 
respect to his carnal nature, his original condition, "sold under 
sin," — into a bondage, which, even in his renewed state, was 
only broken, — not destroyed. He predicates his entire argument 
upon this view. In consequence of the antagonism between this 
active and domineering principle of sin, and the principle of 
grace, in the believer, he describes a conflict going on in his 
heart, in which there are two wills opposed inveterately to each 
other; and two sets of actions result. The new nature — "the 
mind" — is conformed to the law of God. But his natural affec- 
tions and dispositions bow to the law of sin; so that when he 
would do good, evil is present with him; (vii. 21-25). 

2. That of which the apostle speaks, is, not acts of sin, but, a 
principle in the soul; which he calls, sin, and which is the efficient 
cause of actual transgressions. It is represented as the "old 
man," invested with a "body," (vi. 6), and endowed with appetites 
and affections : — "Let not sin reign, that ye should obey it in the 
desires thereof." — vi. 12. " When we were in the flesh, the motions 
(za.drjfio.Ta, the affections, emotions, passions) of sins did work in 
our members to bring forth fruit unto death." — vii. 5. The saints 
are exhorted that they should "not yield their members to sin, as 
instruments of unrighteousness." — vi. 13. Thus, sin is represented 



sect, xviii.] PauTs Discussion of Original Sin. 459 

as an agent, nsing the members of the body as instruments with 
which to work unrighteousness ; and that, in contrast with G-od, 
using the same instruments, to work righteousness. The same 
form of expression is repeated in verse 19: — "For as ye have 
yielded your members servants to uncleanness and iniquity, unto 
the working of iniquity, even so yield ye your members servants 
to righteousness, unto works of holiness." So, "sin wrought in 
Paul all manner of concupiscence." — vii. 8. It deceived him 
and slew him, (vii. 11). And when he states of himself, — "that 
which I do I allow not : for what I would, that do I not ; but 
what I hate, that do I;" — he concludes that it is not he that 
doeth it, but sin that dwelleth in him; (vs. 15, 17, 20). 

3. This principle of sin is native in man, and pervasive of his 
being. It is the old man, the body of sin, (vi. 6). It is the 
characteristic of those who are in the flesh, (vii. 5), — of those who 
are not renewed by the Holy Spirit; (viii. 2-5, 9). Its essential 
characteristic — in which all its evil and enormity consists — is 
the fact that it is enmity against God, and therefore hostile to 
the law, (viii. 7), and, as such, the efficient cause of transgres- 
sions, (vii. 7-15). 

4. The whole argument of the apostle is to the effect that the 
great end had in view, in the whole work of Christ, was the 
destruction of this body of sin, the eradication of this carnal 
nature, (vi. 6-18, &c.) ; and that the only efficiency which is 
adequate to accomplish this object is that of the Spirit of Christ, 
exerting a regenerating power, to the creation of a new prin- 
ciple of holiness, by the operation of which the old man — the 
principle of sin, derived by generation — will be destroyed ; (viii. 
2, 9-14). 

One additional point we may not fail to insist upon, in our 
analysis of this most important part of the word of God. It is, 
§ 20. its origin the relation which the whole exhibition of the 
in Adam. apostle indicates between the offence, which he 

designates in the fifth chapter, and the sin, which he describes 
in those which follow. In the fifth chapter, from the twelfth 
to the nineteenth verses, he describes the offence in terms which, 
as Te 1)3 ve *een ; determine it, unequivocally, to be the first sin 



460 The EloJmn Revealed. [chap. xiv. 

of Adam, the apostasy. Of this sin, he then says, that " the 
law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin 
abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath 
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through right- 
eousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." — v. 20, 21. 
It is in view of the case thus presented, — the offence abounding 
by virtue of the presence of the law, but grace triumphant over 
its curse, — that he opens the discussion of the sixth and seventh 
chapters with the question, " Shall we continue in sin, that 
grace may abound ?" As already hinted, the only way in which 
the offence could abound is, as being a principle of sin, bringing 
forth fruit in acts of disobedience, after Adam's example. The 
offence of Adam had in it two distinct aspects, in which it may 
be viewed; to wit, the assumption of an attitude hostile to God; 
and, the hostile attitude thus assumed. Viewed in the former 
light, it is the one offence, the transgression, by which death 
came on all men; whilst in the latter, it presents itself as a 
principle of evil, whence transgressions continually flow. But 
in these two there is but one criminality, which inheres insepa- 
rably in both, and consists essentially in that enmity to God 
which was enthroned in the first transgression, and thereafter 
reigns as a permanent principle of evil. In his discussion, the 
apostle recognises this identity in the two, and indicates it by 
the continuous flow of the argument, and by the manner in 
which the phrases, "the offence" and "the sin," are interchange- 
ably used. At the same time, he discriminates the two aspects 
of the subject by the manner of discussion, which, after the 
order of nature, exhibits first, the doctrine respecting the offence 
as the sin of the world, involving the entire race in condemna- 
tion, and then, as a principle of sin, which abides in all men, 
and is the cause of all actual sins. 



CHAPTER XV. 

DEFINITION OF GUILT AND OF IMPUTATION. 

The word, guilt, is much used by the standard writers on 
original sin. By the Westminster divines, it is employed in such 
a l. Guilt is connections that their whole doctrine is materially 
criminal Ua* involved in the sense in which it is to be understood. 
Uhty. Thus, in the very definition of original sin, the 

word occurs : — " The guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of 
original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature," 
"is commonly called original sin." It is therefore requisite 
that we ascertain precisely the meaning of this word. It is the 
more necessary, as a definition is sometimes given which we 
are constrained to regard as materially defective ; and which 
tends to modify very seriously the sense of our standards on 
the subject before us. 

According to the definition to which we allude, the words, 
guilt and guilty, as applied to persons, do not convey any im- 
peachment of crime. If the party is a criminal, other lan- 
guage is requisite to express the fact. All that is meant by 
guilt is, mere liability to punishment, at the bar of the law ; and 
he who is guilty may be without crime, although condemned to 
suffer a penal infliction. This definition seizes upon a secondary 
and accidental element in the meaning of the word, and appro- 
priates it, to the exclusion of that which is the primary and 
fundamental idea, from which the other takes its origin.. That 
the question at issue is of importance, is evident. If the defi- 
nition be adopted, which we suppose to be the true one, our 
Shorter Catechism is to be understood as teaching that "the 
sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the cri- 
minality of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, 

461 



462 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xv. 

and the corruption of his whole nature." If the other be pre- 
ferred, that sinfulness is made to consist in the liability to be 
punished for that sin, &c. How our children are to be satisfied 
of the sinfulness of a mere penal liability, is not very clear. 
This much, however, is evident, — that the matter at issue is 
worthy of a very careful investigation. 

In respect to the Scripture usage as to the word, guilt, much 
need not be said. We have already had occasion to point out 
the fact that the essential idea expressed by the word, sin, is, 
deflection from a recognised rule of conduct ; and that, although 
it ordinarily has respect to the law of God, it is also used in 
reference to other rules of action, as well as that ; and hence 
the moral nature of the action involved is to be determined by 
the nature and obligation of the rule which is violated. The 
same remark applies to the word, guilt. It is invariably used 
to express the position of one who has sinned ; that is, who has 
violated some law. Thus it is used in respect to the laws of the 
country. When, at the tribunal, a party is found guilty, the 
idea expressed is that of condemnation for violation of law. So, 
in the Scriptures, it is sometimes used in cases where great moral 
turpitude is not implied ; but never where there has not been 
transgression of law. As Owen well expresses it, " Guilt is the 
respect of sin to the sanction of the law." It includes two ideas 
in its meaning. The one is, violation of law; and upon the 
character of the law which is violated depends the moral enor- 
mity which the word implies. Thus, the guilt of petty larceny 
is one thing, that of murder is another. One person may be 
guilty of violating conventional rules, which have no moral obli- 
gation ; whilst another incurs the fearful guilt of blaspheming 
God. The second element in the meaning of the word, is, the 
liability to punishment which the transgression involves. This 
liability results from the terms of the law itself, denouncing 
the penal infliction against transgression; and the design of 
it is to vindicate the sovereignty of the law; which, if not 
honoured by the obedience of the subject, must be so by the 
infliction which it lays upon him. Hence no one can be guilty 
except he has violated the law which condemns him. And the 



sect, l] Definition of Guilt and of Imputation. 463 

amount of moral turpitude which the word imputes, is depend- 
ent upon the moral obligation of the law which has been trans- 
gressed. The law of G-od being of infinite obligation, its 
demands infinitely righteous, and its penalty infinitely just, it 
follows that there cannot be guilt at the bar of that law without 
moral turpitude, and that of infinite enormity. The word is 
never used in the Scriptures where the guilty party is not im- 
peached of transgression. In fact ; so intimate is the relation 
there recognised between sin and guilt, that the word, (cew), which 
is the one commonly employed to express guilt, is used, as Owen 
truly remarks, equally for sin, the guilt of it, its punishment, 
and satisfaction for it, whether pecuniary or by expiation. How 
intimately such a usage as this identifies guilt with sin, we need 
not ins:-:, 

The definitions of the standard theologians accord perfectly 
with the principles which we have stated, and the practice of 
\ 2. Standard the Scriptures. Calvin does not formally define 
writers. word ; but we have his testimony on the question 

before us, in a line. He says of original sin, that " it is pro- 
perly accounted sin before God: because there cannot be guilt 
luithout crime; (non esset reams absque culpa). "* 

Says John Marck, " Guilt is obligation to punishment (ex 
idicto) from sin or crime. It is, by some, inaccu- 
rately defined as the essence of the sin itself; but the essential 
matter of sin is the violation of law itself, which produces de- 
filement and guilt. This guilt follows sin, partly by virtue of 
the divine law denouncing punishment against transgressions ; 
partly from the intrinsic nature of sin, which, on account of its 
deformity and deviation from the ultimate end, always deserves 
punishment from a most righteous God. It therefore arises out 
of crime, and precedes punishment. As to its result, it pertains 
to the punishment ; as to its source, to the crime. Guilt pro- 
ceeds directly from sin ; but the punishment, since it is by justice, 
is only from it by consequent provision.'' 

"The papists improperly discriminate between the guilt of 
crime and of punishment; for if crime be taken for the offence, 

* Institutes. Book II. chap. i. i 8, 



464 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xv. 

guilt is the medium between that and the punishment ; if, for 
the stain, to it guilt is contradistinguished, since guilt is either 
potential, in its first action, indicating the intrinsic desert of 
punishment, which inseparably inheres in the crime or the stain 
so long as they remain, although the sin be remitted by the 
mercy of God ; or actual, in its second action, which is separated 
and taken away from sin by remission, which is properly the 
taking away of the actual guilt, — the not enforcing of the de- 
clared will of God respecting the punishment which sin other- 
wise deserves, — on account of satisfaction given. These two 
[potential and actual guilt] differ as do gravity and gravitation, 
of which the latter is separable from a solid body, but the former 
is not. Whence it appears that the papists improperly dis- 
tinguish between the remission of the punishment and of the 
crime, that they may favour their purgatory. Nor do they 
conform to reason, whilst sometimes they wish the guilt to be 
inseparable from the crime, that they may prove nothing of 
original sin to remain to the baptized, — they being unable to 
distinguish potential and actual guilt. Sometimes they so make 
guilt separable from the crime, that, the latter being remitted, 
they pretend the guilt and liability, at least to temporal punish- 
ment, to remain. But in fact the crime is not only the antece- 
dent cause of the guilt, but also the recipient subject of it. It 
is not, therefore, possible for the accident to remain, the subject 
being taken away; but the accident being removed, the subject 
may still remain."* 

" Guilt," says Van Mastricht, "is obligation to punishment 
for sin, by which the sinner is said to be, D^K, — Lev. v. 2, 3, 4, 5 ; 
of a/iaprtav elvat, — under sin, — Rom. iii. 9, vii. 14; and in his 
sins, — 1 Cor. xv. 17 ; bnbdixov yiveadat tw 6eaJ, — Rom. iii. 19 ; 
a debtor to God. — Matt. vi. 12, and Luke vi. 4. Guilt follows 
sin, partly from its intrinsic nature and demerit, inasmuch as it 
is not a thing without character, or indifferent, but in its own 
nature evil, and deserving punishment; which, unless the na- 
ture of things should be confounded, and the distinction between 

* Marckii Medulla, Locus vi. 16, 18, 19. 



sect, ii.] Definition of Guilt and of Imputation. 465 

good and evil taken away, may not be withheld; — partly by the 
sanction of the divine law. The first is called the intrinsic 
desert of punishment, (Eom. i. 32,) the latter, the actual con- 
demnation to punishment. The one is potential guilt, insepa- 
rable from sin ; the other, actual, which, by the gracious dis- 
pensation of God, may be separated, if not from the sin, at least 
from the sinner. Guilt is, therefore, (medium quid,) a link of 
connection between the crime and the punishment. It springs 
out of the crime, and leads to the punishment ; so that the guilt 
of crime and the guilt of punishment are one, which lies as a 
medium between these termini, and is named equally from each." 

" From guilt arises (1) a conscience justly accusing and con- 
demning ; (2) terror ; (3) flight from the presence of God, arising 
from fear of the divine vengeance; (4) punishment, the ultimate 
consequence of sin."* 

Of the distinction between reatus poence and reatus culpa, this 
writer says, "All guilt consists in obligation to punishment; 
therefore the distinction is made without a difference ; for guilt- 
is a medium between crime and punishment, which, growing 
out of the crime, leads to the punishment, — coalescing with both, 
and constituting a medium which embraces both, and is desig- 
nated as much from the one as from the other." "Our oppo- 
nents are able to. urge nothing, unless it be that the guilt of 
crime cannot be separated from sin, since sin by its very nature 
deserves punishment, whilst the guilt of punishment may be 
taken away. But this does not call for a discrimination between 
criminal and penal guilt, but only between potential and actual, 
— of which the former cannot be separated, but the latter is by 
Christ."t 

Our next authority is Samuel Rutherford, Professor of Di- 
vinity in the University of St. Andrews. "In July, 1643, the 
Westminster Assembly sat, and to it he was sent up as one of 
the commissioners from Scotland. There exists, in the MSS. 
in the library of Edinburgh University, a sketch of the Shorter 



* Van Mastricht, Theol. Lib. iv. cap. ii. \ 7, 8. 
f Ibid. Cap. iv. \ 23. 
30 



The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xv. 

Catechism in Rutherford's handwriting, very much resembling 
the Catechism as it now stands, — as if he had had the principal 
hand in drawing it up for the Assembly. . . . During his residence 
in London, several of his family died; yet, amid the trials and 
bustle of that time, he wrote ' The Due Eight of Presbytery/ 
'Lex Rex,' and 'The Trial and Triumph of Faith.'"* The 
following passages from the latter work occur in a discussion of 
the Antinomian doctrine that our very sins were transfused to 
Jesus Christ. In opposition to this heresy, he says : — 

"The guilt of sin, and sin itself, are not one and the same 
thing, but far different things. That I may prove the point, let 
the terms be considered. There be two things in sin, very con- 
siderable. 1. The blot, defilement and blackness of sin; which 
I conceive is nothing but the absence and privation of that moral 
rectitude, the want of that whiteness, innocency and righteous- 
ness, which the holy and clean law of the Lord requireth to be 
in the actions, inclinations and powers of the soul of a reasonable 
creature. 2. There is the guilt of sin; that is somewhat which 
issueth from this blot and blackness of sin ; according to which 
the person is liable and obnoxious to eternal punishment. This 
is the debt of sin, the law obligation to satisfaction passive for 
sin; just as there be two things in debt, so these two things are 
in sin. . . . Now, here be two things in debt. 1. An unjust 
thing ; a hurting of our brother in his goods : this is a blot, and 
a thing privately contrary to justice. 2. A just thing; a guilt, 
a just debt; according to which it is most just that the broken 
man either pay or suffer. Now, these two, as all contraries do, 
they make a number; as just and unjust must be two things, 
and two contrary things. I know there be cavils and subtleties 
of schoolmen touching the blot and the guilt of sin; but this is 
the naked truth, which I have here declared. Some say, 'the 
blot of sin, is that uncleanness of sin which is washed away 
by the blood of the Lord Jesus; and this is nothing but the 
very guilt of sin, which is wholly removed in justification.' But 

* Memoir by Bonar, prefixed to Rutherford's Letters. Carters, New York : 
1856, p. 21. 



sect, ii.] Definition of Guilt and of Imputation. 467 

I easily answer : The blot of sin hath divers relations, and these 
contrary one to another. As, 1. There is the blot of sin in re- 
lation to the holy law, as it is a privation of the rectitude and 
holiness that the spiritual law requireth; and it is formally sin, 
and not the guilt of sin. ... 2. The blot of sin in relation to 
God, as offended and injured, putteth on the habit of guilt, and 
so is washed away in 'the fountain opened to the house of David/ 
and formally removed in justification; but now [in relation' to 
that which was assumed by Christ] it is not formally considered 
as sin, but according to that which is accidental in sin; viz., 
obligation to punishment, which may be and is removed from 
sin, the true essence and nature of sin being saved whole and 
entire. Hence sin hath divers considerations. ... As it offend- 
eth and injur eth God in his honour, and glory of supreme 
authority to command what is just and holy, it is an offence and 
provocation, (Isa. iii. 8; Ps. lxxviii. 17;) a displeasing of God, 
(1 Cor. x. 5 ; 2 Sam. xi. 27 ;) a grieving of him and his Spirit, 
(Eph. iv. 30; Gen. vi. 6; Ps. xcv. 10;) a tempting of God, (Ps. 
lxxviii. 18, xcv. 9; Acts xv. 10;) a wearying of the Lord, 
and making him to serve, (Isa. xliii. 24, vii. 15 ;) a loading of the 
Lord, (Isa. i. 24;) a pressing of the Lord as a cart is pressed 
under a heavy load of sheaves, (Amos ii. 13;) — and so is punished 
with everlasting punishment. Hence there is a twofold guilt: 
one fundamental, potential, the guilt of sin as sin ; this is all one 
with sin, being the very essence, soul and formal being of sin; 
and this guilt cannot remove from sin, so as sin shall remain sin ; 
take this away, and you take away sin itself. But this is removed 
in sanctification as perfected, not in justification. . . . But there 
is another guilt in sin, called the guilt or obligation to punish- 
ment; the actual guilt, or actual obligation of the person who 
hath sinned, to punishment ; and this guilt is a thing far differ- 
ent from sin itself, and is separable from sin, and may be and is 
removed from sin, without the destruction of the essence of sin ; 
and is fully removed in justification."* 

* Rutherford's Trial and Triumph of Faith. Issued by the Committee of the 
General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, for the publication of the 
works of Scottish Reformers and Divines. Edinburgh. 1848, pp. 222. 



468 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xv. 

"And truly it is bad divinity for Dr. Crispe to say, 'As we 
are actual real sinners in Adam, so here, God passetli really sin 
over on Christ.' For we sinned intrinsically in Adam, as parts, 
as members, as being in his loins; and we are thence 'by nature 
children of wrath.' — Epli. ii. 3. But it is blasphemy to say, 
that our blessed Saviour sinned intrinsically in us, as part or 
member of the redeemed, or that he is a son of God's wrath, for 
sin intrinsically inherent in him as it is in us. Further, Christ's 
bearing of our iniquities is an obvious Hebraism, and all one 
with the bearing, — not of the intrinsical and fundamental guilt of 
sin, — but of the extrinsical guilt, or debt and punishment, of sin."* 

We might add the harmonious testimony of Owen, Turrettin, 
Ames of Franckaer,f and many others. In fact, the standard 
authorities are altogether unanimous. In these definitions, the 
following points are to be noticed : — 

1. They, in every instance, include the idea of antecedent sin, 
a 3. Analysis as an essential element in the meaning of the word, 
of these defi- guilt. In the language of Owen, it is " the relation 
nitious. Q j sin tQ tlie sanct ,i on f t i ie i aw> » ft fc "liability 

to punishment for sin." 

2. Guilt is resolved into two elements : the one fundamental, 
intrinsical, potential, — "the intrinsic desert of punishment;" — 
the other, accidental, extrinsical, actual, — " the appointment to 
punishment, by the justice of God." " The one pertains to the 
demerit of sin;" "the other, to the judgment of demerit." 

3. " There can be no liability to punishment," says Owen, 
" obligatio ad pamarn, where there is not desert of punishment, 
dignitas pocnoz." Again, " There can be no punishment, nor, 
reatus pcenas, the guilt of it, but where there is reatus culpa?, or 
sin considered with its guilt." 

4. In the usage of Scripture, the sin and punishment are 
spoken of in a manner indicating the most intimate and insepa- 
rable relation. Guilt there, without exception, implies sin in 
the guilty. In the language of Owen, and with his italics, " It 

* Trial and Triumph of Faith, p. 239. 

f See Owen on Justification, ch. viii. Board of Pub., p. 222 ; Turrettin, 
Locus ix. Qu. viii. g 1, and Qu. iii. \\ 2-6; Amesii Theol. Medul., Lib. i. cap. 12. 



sect, ii.] Definition of Guilt and of Imputation. 

signifies the relation of the sin intended unto punishment. And 
other significations of it will be in vain sought for in the Old 
Testament." 

5. Guilt " lies as a medium between the crime and the punish- 
ment, and is named equally from each." 

6. Crime and guilt are related as recipient subject and acci- 
dent ; and " it is not possible for the accident (guilt) to remain, 
the s abject being taken away." 

7. Sin, says Turrettin, "as it has respect to the precept of flie 
law, is called unlawfulness or transgression ; as it has respect 
to the threatening, guilt." 

8. "From guilt arises," as the first consequence, "a con- 
science justly accusing and condemning." Now, conscience does 
not deal with legal liabilities, but with moral criminality and 
desert. 

The use of the word in the Westminster standards confirms 
the • conclusions to which these definitions lead : — " Every sin, 
\ -l Ga>:it in both original and actual, being a transgression of the 
our standards, righteous law of G-od, and contrary thereunto, doth, 
in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is 
bound over to the wrath of God and curse of the law, and so 
made subject to death, with all miseries, spiritual, temporal and 
eternal.''* The reader will judge whether the idea of desert is 
here excluded from the word, guilt, — an exclusion which would 
give the close of the section the aspect of unmeaning tautology. 
Again, " The covenant being made with Adam not only for himself 
but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordi- 
nary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first 
transgression." " The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man 
fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin," &c.| Here " the 
guilt of Adam's first sin" is stated as a sinful consequence of the 
sin which we " sinned in him." Not only so, but in this analysis, 
in which the whole consequences are formally resolved into the 
two elements of criminal and penal, — "sinfulness and misery," 
— the guilt is thus ranked under the criminal head, as one of 

* Confession, Chap. vi. \ 6. f Shartei Catechism, Q.:, 16, 18. 



470 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xv. 

the features of man's sinfulness. Notice, further, that Eutherford, 
a member of the Assembly, and probable author of this very 
Catechism, distinctly asserts, as we have seen, that " we sinned 
intrinsically in Adam, as parts, as members, as being in his loins ;" 
and can there be a question, as to the meaning of the word, guilt, 
as used in this place of the Catechism; or, as to the doctrine which 
it is designed to teach ? Again, we read that, our first parents 
"being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, 
and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all 
their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation."* 
Now, imputation has respect to the precept of the law alone, 
and not to its sanction. In other words, in imputation the sub- 
jects are compared to the law, and judged as to conformity or 
nonconformity to it ; as sin is imputed to the sinner, and right- 
eousness to -Christ. It is altogether an incongruous use of the 
word to speak of the penal sanction of the law being imputed 
to the transgressor, — the miseries of hell imputed to Satan. 
And yet such, precisely, will be the incongruity of the language 
of the Confession, above quoted, if the word, "guilt," be inter- 
preted by, mere liability to punishment. The only definition 
which will harmonize with this passage is that asserted by the 
authorities above given, including with the idea of exposure to 
punishment, that of criminality, the cause of that liability. In 
fact, our Confession and Catechisms use the word in no other 
than this its primary and proper sense, indicating the evil or 
demerit and condemnation which belong to sin. They neither 
use it in the sense of actual, as contradistinguished from poten- 
tial guilt, nor in that of potential guilt, exclusive of actual. 
The former of these is, by orthodox authorities, applied to the 
single case of Christ, voluntarily assuming the penal liability of 
his people ; the latter, to his people, who, although thus released 
from the penalty of the law, are nevertheless, in themselves, 
sinners deserving of punishment. But on neither of these 
subjects is the word employed in our standards. 

Another word, of which it is necessary to fix the precise mean- 

* Confession, Chapter vi. \ 3. 



sect, iv.] Definition of Guilt and of Imputation. 471 

ing, is, imputation. To impute, is, to attribute a moral act or 
§ 5. imputa- attitude to a party. It is the charging or setting 
Hon defined. to the account of a moral agent, of such facts, whe- 
ther meritorious or criminal, as constitute the grounds upon 
which the tribunal of justice may base the decree of approval 
or condemnation. Thus, when God declares that, " If any of 
the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings be eaten at all on 
the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be im- 
puted unto him that offereth it," — Lev. vii. 18, the meaning is, 
that it will not be accredited to the party as compliance with the 
law. When it is stated that, whosoever killeth a sacrifice else- 
where than at the door of the tabernacle, " blood shall be im- 
puted unto that man, he hath shed blood," — Lev. xvii. 4, the latter 
phrase is equivalent to the former : the imputation of blood is 
the charging of it against the party, at the tribunal, in order 
to sentence. So, too, in Paul's quotation from the Psalms, 
" Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins 
are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not 
impute sin," — Rom. iv. 7, 8, the meaning is manifest : — not to 
impute sin, is, to omit the charge of it against the transgressor. 
See, also, 2 Sam. xix. 19 ; Psalm xxxii. 2 ; 2 Cor. v. 19 ; 2 Tim. 
iv. 16. " These, and numerous similar passages, render the 
scriptural idea of imputation perfectly clear : it is laying any 
thing to one's charge, and treating him accordingly. It pro- 
duces no change in the individual to whom the imputation is 
made : it simply alters his relation to the law. As far as the 
meaning of the word is concerned, it is a matter of indifference 
whether the thing- imputed belonged antecedently to the person 
to whom the imputation is made, or not."* 

Here, however, a question of no little importance arises. Can 
that be imputed to a party at the bar, which does not really 
belong to him ? The question is in respect to the bar of God ; 
and it is, therefore, equivalent to asking whether " the judgment 
of God is according to truth ;" of which the apostle declares that 
he is sure. (Pom. ii. 2.) Says Turrettin, " Imputation is either 

* Hodge on the Romans, p. 88. 



472 The EJolitm Revealed. [chap. xv. 

of what belongs to another, or of what is our own. Sometimes 
that is imputed to us which is ours personally ; in which sense 
God imputes sins to sinners whom he punishes for their own 
personal crimes; and, in respect to good deeds, the zeal of 
Phineas is said to have been imputed to him for righteousness. 
Psalm cvi. 31. Sometimes that is imputed which is extraneous 
to us, and not our deed ; in which manner, the righteousness 
of Christ is said to be imputed to us, and our sins to him ; al- 
though neither had he sin in himself, nor we righteousness." 
" But, when the sin of another is said to be imputed to any one, 
it is not to be understood that the sin is, purely and in every 
sense, foreign to him ; but that, by some means, it pertains to 
him to whom it is said to be imputed ; if not strictly his own, 
individually and personally, then (communiter) conjointly, on 
account of community between him and its proper author. For 
there can be no imputation of the sin of another, unless it is 
based upon some special union of the one with the other."* So, 
Van Mastricht, speaking of original sin, says, " The imputation 
does not consist in a merely putative act, by which God con- 
siders the breach of the covenant to have been committed not 
only by our first parents, but in action and personally by all 
their posterity ; for in this there is a manifest error ; — but that 
the breach of the covenant which was committed by the act of 
our first parents, was committed by all their posterity, in them, 
as in their cause."t And Marck says that " Adam's transgres- 
sion was not merely personal, as were those that followed it, but 
common, and, in a sense, belonging to the nature. It hence ap- 
pears that the dogma of the Pelagians and Remonstrants is to 
be rejected, — that the sin of Adam was so alien to us, that it 
could not be called ours ; for by God it could not be imputed to 
us, justly, unless it was in some manner ours ; since ' the soul 
that sinneth, it shall die.' "J 

Imputation, then, is - the finding of the facts, upon a judicial 
investigation, — the entering of the verdict, by which the case 
is defined in its true character; a comparison of which with 

* Turrettini Instit., Locus I. Qu. ix. \\ 10, 11. 

f Van Mastricht, Lib. iv. Cap. ii. 10. % Marckii Medulla, Lib. vi. \ 36. 



sect, v.] Definition of Guilt and Imputation. 473 

the requirements of the law, constitutes the ground of the de- 
cision of the judge, either of approval or condemnation. In this 
imputation, the case is never viewed or represented in any other 
light than precisely as it is. For example, it does not consider 
him as a personal sinner, an immediate transgressor, who is only 
guilty in the person of another, his representative. Nor does 
it account him to be righteous, who, though chargeable with no 
personal dereliction, has transgressed in the person of another. 
In short, in imputation, a faithful record is made of the case, 
precisely as it is, in all its aspects and elements ; and, this being 
done, the office of imputation ceases. The rest remains for the 
decision of the judge, in accordance with the law. 

Another point, to be distinctly marked, is, that imputation 
does not exert any kind of efficiency over the facts, to modify or 
transform them. It does not create any different state of the 
case from that which existed prior to the imputing act. That 
which is not mine, otherwise, cannot be made mine by imputa- 
tion. It does not make the case ; but ascertains and records it, 
as it already exists. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

ORIGINAL SIN IMPUTED — THE GUILT OF ADAM'S FIRST SIN. 

"Peccatum originale, . . . quomodo intravit? . . . Per propagationem, per impu- 
tationem, idque jure hereditario, propagatum per generations naturalis suc- 
cessionem. Tria erant in primo peccato ; 1. culpa actualis ; 2. pravitas 
naturalis, sive horribilis naturae deformitas ; 3. reatus legalis. Et hoec omnia 
ad posteros introierunt, non una. via, sed triplici ; culpa participatione, quia 
omnes seminali ratione fuerunt in lumbis Adami ; pravitas propagatione, seu 
generatione, quia filios genuit Adam, ad imaginem suam, non Dei ; reatus im- 
putatione, quia gratia ita Adamo collata est ut si peccaret, tota posteritas cum 
ipso ea excideret ; sicut feuda tali conditione dantur vasalis, ut si ea per 
culpam perdant, eodem reatu liberos involvant." — Poli Synopsis Criticorum, 
in Rom. v. 12. 

The statement given above presents, with admirable clearness 
and discrimination, the doctrine of original sin, as held from the 
I l. Doctrine beginning, in the Eeformed churches. It is adopted 
of imputation. \^j Poole, with an appeal to the authority of Paraeus, 
the colleague and editor of Ursinus. " There were three things 
in the first sin. 1. Actual crime. 2. Natural depravity, or a 
horrible deformity of nature. 3. Legal guilt. And these come 
upon his posterity, not in one but three ways; — crime by par- 
ticipation, because all were, by the law of propagation, in the 
loins of Adam ; — depravity by propagation or generation, because 
Adam begat sons in his own image, not that of God ; — guilt by 
imputation, because grace was so bestowed upon Adam, that if 
he sinned, he in the act destroyed his whole posterity with him- 
self; as fiefs are given to vassals upon such terms that if by any 
offence they forfeit them, they involve their children with them- 
selves in the damage." To precisely the same purpose are the 
statements of our Catechism: — "The covenant being made with 
Adam not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind 

474 



sect, i.] Original Sin Imputed. 475 

descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and 
fell with him" into an estate, the sinfulness of which " consists 
in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteous- 
ness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly 
called original sin." 

In Adam's sin, there were four several things, which it is 
necessary carefully to distinguish. These were, — the action of 
apostasy, or depravation of his nature, — the depravity, or aver- 
sion from God, in which that action terminated, — the criminality, 
guilt, or desert of punishment, thence arising ; and, — the formal 
act of plucking the fruit. This latter act, again, is to be viewed 
in two aspects; — as it was an act personal to Adam; and as it 
was the action, and constituted the publication and pledge, of the 
apostasy of his nature, and seal of the curse consequent thereon. 
In this latter respect, it is an element in the account of sin, which 
stands on record against the whole nature and race of man. Thus 
viewed, however, its criminality is not distinguishable from that 
of the apostasy, of which it was the consummation and first fruit. 
The act of apostasy, as it was the embrace of depravity, — the 
cause of the corruption of man's nature, — will come to be con- 
sidered in the next chapters, in connection with the discussion 
of original sin inherent. That with which we have now to do 
is, the guilt of the apostasy. The doctrine which we derive from 
the Scriptures on the subject is, that we were so in Adam that 
we share in the moral responsibility of his apostasy, as really as 
though we had wrought it for ourselves, personally, and severally ; 
and that in consequence we are guilty, and condemned under 
the curse, at the bar of God's infinite justice. Of the evidence 
in support of this doctrine, we have already given a large illus- 
tration, and, we trust, established it by the testimony of the 
Scriptures. 

The rejection of our doctrine leaves but one alternative, — the 
denial that we have any thing to do with Adam's sin; or a 
1 2. Edwards' choice between the mediate and Arminian theories. 
mediate impu- Of these, the former is held by Edwards. He takes 
the ground that we were not natively one with Adam, 
in any such sense, as to involve the derivation from him of 



476 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

qualities and relations; since, not only are we new and distinct 
creations, at each, instant, emanating, by a perpetually creative 
agency, from the immediate hand of God, — but, in particular, 
the phenomena of generation are nothing but the established 
order in which, by such an immediate agency, he brings into 
existence both body and soul. Yet, by the assertion of his 
" arbitrary sovereignty," God has put forth a constitution by 
which the state of the case, simply and absolutely considered, is 
set aside, and we are constituted one with him. This constituted 
oneness, however, does not immediately and fully bind us in the 
guilt of the first sin ; but only involves us in depravity of nature. 
The action of this depravity, constituting in us a corrupt assent 
to the first sin of Adam, becomes at length the ground of the 
imputation of the sin to us. He says, "The first being of an 
evil disposition in the heart of a child of Adam, whereby he is 
disposed to approve of the sin of his first father, as fully as he him- 
self approved of it, when he committed it, or so far as to imply 
a full and perfect consent of heart to it, I think is not to be 
looked upon as a consequence of the imputation of that first sin, 
any more than the full consent of Adam's own heart, in the act 
of sinning ; which was not consequent on the imputation of his sin 
to himself, but rather prior to it in the order of nature. Indeed, 
the derivation of the evil disposition to the hearts of Adam's 
posterity, or rather the coexistence of the evil disposition im- 
plied in Adam's first rebellion, in the root and branches, is a 
consequence of the union that the wise author of the world has 
established between Adam and his posterity ; but not properly a 
consequence of the imputation of his sin ; nay, rather antecedent 
to it, as it was in Adam himself. The first depravity of heart, and 
the imputation of that sin, are both the consequences of that esta- 
blished union ; but yet in such order, that the evil disposition is 
first, and the charge of guilt consequent; as it was in the case 
of Adam himself." Again, in reply to the objection that sor- 
row and shame are for personal sin alone, he says, "Nor is it 
a thing strange and unheard-of, that men should be ashamed of 
things done by others whom they are nearly concerned in. I 
am sure it is not unscriptural ; especially when they are justly 



sect, ii.] Original Sin Imputed. 477 

looked upon in the sight of God, who sees the disposition of their 
hearts, as fully consenting and concurring. From what has been 
observed, it may appear, there is no sure ground to conclude, that 
it must be an absurd and impossible thing for the race of man- 
kind truly to partake of the sin of the first apostasy; so as that 
this, in reality and propriety, shall become their sin ; by virtue 
of a real union between the root and branches of the world of 
mankind, (truly and properly availing to such a consequence,) 
established by the author of the whole system of the universe; 
to whose establishments is owing all propriety and reality of 
union, in any part of that system ; — and by virtue of the full con- 
sent of the hearts of Adam's posterity to that first apostasy. 
And therefore the sin of the apostasy is not theirs, merely be- 
cause God imputes it to them ; but it is truly and properly theirs, 
and on that ground God imputes it to them." Again: — "The 
affair of the derivation of the natural corruption of mankind, in 
general, and of their consent to, and participation of, the primi- 
tive and common apostasy, is not in the least intermeddled with, 
or touched, by any thing meant or aimed at in the true scope 
and design of this place of Ezekiel," (Ezek. xviii. 1-20). So he 
speaks of the teachings of the word of God, "concerning the 
derivation of a depravity and guilt from Adam to his posterity."* 
In the latter of these places, the order of enumeration implies 
what the others assert, — an imputation of the guilt of the first 
sin, because of the corrupt nature which in us actually approves 
the deed. That such was the doctrine of Edwards on the sub- 
ject, is unquestionable. He not only thus again and again asserts 
it, and weaves it into his argument, but quotes and adopts the 
language of Stapfer, which is confessedly at variance with the 
received doctrine of the Reformed on this point. 

This doctrine of mediate imputation — although it, or some- 
thing similar, is practically inevitable, upon the adoption of Ed- 
wards' theory of identity — is logically irreconcilable with that 
theory. If there be in truth no real identity in things, except 
by the arbitrary process which he designates by the phrase, 
"divine constitution," — and if by such a constitution we and 

* All these passages are from the treatise on Original Sin, Part IV. ch. 3. 



478 TJie ETohim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

Adam are one, — it follows, that in the same sense precisely in 
which the sin of eating the forbidden fruit was subsequently 
chargeable on the Adam who was excluded from the garden, it 
is chargeable on us. "Simply and absolutely considered," he 
that was driven forth with his weeping wife, under the terrors 
of the curse, was not the same, who had committed the fatal 
deed, any more than are we. And the "divine constitution," — 
which was effectual to justify the assumption of identity in the 
innumerable series of individuals, who by the creative power 
were made the fleeting succession, and by sovereignty constituted 
the personal unit, the first Adam, — was equally competent to 
constitute us one with him ; and, as one, immediately responsible 
for his deed. But, although Edwards was ensnared by the sub- 
tlety of his own philosophy, his soul instinctively recoiled from 
his conclusions, and uttered an unapprehended but powerful 
protest against the sufficiency of his plea, — against the adequacy 
of a system, which based the whole tremendous consequences, 
which are involved in original sin, upon a ground so unreal, as 
a divine constitution, transforming the facts, and making things 
to be identical, which were essentially and by creation several 
and distinct. He therefore has recourse to the notion of mediate 
imputation, to release himself from the difficulties which his 
theory had created. He thus relieves his consciousness, respect- 
ing the relation of the scheme which he had contrived to the 
principles of divine justice, at the expense of his own consistency, 
and of the doctrine Which he had set himself to defend. Such 
was the consequence in Edwards' case; — and such, or like it, 
will be the result, whenever and wherever the attempt is made to 
vindicate the doctrine of original sin by recourse to any system 
of arbitrary constructions or legal intendments, — by any thing 
short of a real and native inbeing of Adam's posterity in him, 
as the root and cause of the race. 

The mediate theory is, in fact, a mere modification of the Ar- 
minian doctrine, — essentially the same, and differing merely in 
phraseology. They agree in overlooking or denying Adam's 
causative relation to the race, as bearing upon the doctrine of 
imputation, — in denying any proper oneness between Adam and 



sect, ii.] Original Sin Imputed. 479 

us, — any communion of his seed in the crime of his transgres- 
sion. They agree in holding us to be involved in certain evils, 
in consequence of Adam's sin; and in denying them to be the 
penalty which attaches to actual sin ; although some of them, as 
Whitby and the Eemonstrants, speak of them as penal evils, — 
the punishment of Adam's sin. They agree in holding that cri- 
minality, in the proper sense of the word, first arises out of 
active depravity; and they commonly concur in denying that 
the infinite wrath and curse of God is fully incurred, until de- 
pravity has brought forth fruit in actual sins. The only real 
difference is, as to the manner in which, to save appearances, the 
word, imputation, is introduced into the two several systems. 
By the one, it is used to express the fact, that we, by our own 
sins, incur a like criminality and punishment with Adam; — by 
the other, to express the liability to temporal evils, which at- 
taches to us, on account of the first sin. 

The Arminian doctrine is thus stated and vindicated by Gro- 
tius in his commentary on Romans v. 12 : — "'In whom all have 
3 3. Arminian sinned.' It is a common metonymy among the 
theory. Hebrews to use the word 'sin' instead of 'punish- 

ment,' and 'to sin' instead of 'to undergo a penalty;' whence, by 
metalepsis, still farther extending the figure, they are said to sin, 
who bear any evil, even without fault ; as Gen. xxxi. 36, and Job 
vi. 24, where Nttn ; to sin, is translated by doan pa-few } to suffer 
adverse fortune. Ey a> in quo here means, through whom, as erci 
is taken with the dative in Luke v. 5; Actsiii. 16; 1 Cor. viii. 11; 
Heb. ix. 17. Chrysostom on this place says, 'He falling, they 
also who did not eat of the tree were all by him rendered mortal.' " 
On verse 19 he says, "Here again is a metonymy. They were 
so treated as though they had actually sinned ; that is, they were 
subjected to death. So the word, 'sinner,' is used in 1 Kings i. 
21, and elsewhere."* 

The same theory is more largely defended by Whitby. After 
citing and rejecting, in turn, the suppositions, that we actually 
and formally sinned in Adam ; and, that we are made sinners by 
the act of the imputation of Adam's sin; he says, "I am forced 

* Grotii Annotationes, in loco. 



480 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

to prefer before them, that of the Greek fathers ; viz. that we 
all sinned in Adam, i.e., by becoming obnoxious to that death 
which was the punishment of his sin ; and, that ' by one man's 
disobedience many were made sinners,' by being subject to the 
death and temporal calamities and miseries which came upon 
all mankind for Adam's sin ; so that we become sinners in him, 
or by his disobedience, by a metonymy of the effect, by suffering 
the punishment which God had threatened to him for it, as the 
experience of all men and women show we do, in all the parts 
of the threat ; and this is a common sense of the word, won, 
which signifies both sin and the punishment of it. So Gen. iv. 7 : 
— ' If thou dost evil, nxton sin lieth at the door,' — that is, the 
punishment of sin, ver. 13; so Gen. xix. 15, 'Make haste,' 
saith the angel to Lot, ' and escape, lest thou be consumed T\jO 
in the sin of the city,' that is, in. the punishment of the city, in 
plaga descendente propter culpam incolarum urbis, Arab. ; and 
Gen. xxxi. 39, Jacob speaks to Laban thus, ' That which was 
torn of beasts, ru^nx ojx, eyco okox'lvvuov, pcenas dabam, I suffered 
for it;' the sin was upon me, saith Aben Ezra; Gen. xliii. 9, 
Judah speaks thus to Jacob concerning Benjamin, ' If I bring 
him not again, "fr 'flKDm, ^fiapztxoiQ iao/mi ei<; oe\ he. ' I will 
suffer punishment;' see chapter xlii. 37; i.e. 'let me bear the 
blame;' so, also, chapter xliv. 32; so Bathsheba said to David, 
1 1 and my son Solomon shall be D\XDn, 6.fiaprwXoi } sinners,' 
1 Kings i. 21 ; i.e. we shall be punished as sinners, and be in 
danger of our life ; so UjnBrv xS ; impium non faciet, ' he will 
not condemn him,' Psalm xxxvii. 33; unsrv y: oni 7 et sanguinem 
innocentem condemnabunt, Psalm xciv. 21; so, also, Job ix. 20; 
so the lepers say one to another, ' We do not well if we tarry 
till the morning light; then we shall be found sinners,' 2 Kings 
vii. 9; i.e. we shall be punished by the king; and Zech. xiv. 19, 
* This shall be D ,h tfD nxDn, S-juapna AlyunroD, the punishment of 
Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not 
up to keep the feast of tabernacles.' This phrase of bearing 
sin is constantly used in this sense ; as when it is said, xw lrjtti, 
'they shall bear their iniquity, they shall die,' Lev. xx. 20; and, 
(Xfiapriav xofjuouvrou, djiocaovvai, Lev. xx. 17, 19; ISTum. xiv. 34, 



sect, in.] Original Sin Imputed. 481 

Xyipeods dfiapziaz 5/jlojp; Lam. v. 7, b7ieoyop.tv za dvopvjpa ra 
abzwv, ' we have borne their iniquity.' ... It is true, we meet 
not with the words ^ftaprbu and <ifj.apra)Xol xareardd^aavy in this 
sense, elsewhere in the New Testament; but then this may be be- 
cause the comparison is not elsewhere made betwixt the first Adam 
and the effects of his disobedience, and the second Adam and 
the effects of his obedience to the death ; and because the oppo- 
site phrase, dixaeoc Tiareaddyjaav, required that the words opposed 
should be used in the metonymical sense ; for when the apostle 
saith, ' By the obedience of one man many were made righteous/ 
it is evident he spoke not of Christ's active obedience, but of his 
passive obedience, or suffering death for us. For, 1. The whole 
chapter is employed in setting forth the benefits accruing to us 
by his death, ver. 6, 8-11. 2. The effect of this obedience is, 
our justification ; now, that, through the whole Scripture, and in 
this very chapter, is constantly ascribed to the death of Christ, 
and his blood shed for us, ver. 9, 10, 16-18. 3. The disobe- 
dience, by which many were made sinners, is plainly declared 
by the apostle to be- one single act of disobedience in Adam, and 
therefore the obedience opposed to it cannot, in reason, be the 
active obedience of Christ's whole life, but that obedience to the 
death which the apostle mentions, Phil. ii. 6, 8. Now, by this 
passive obedience, we cannot be made formally righteous, but 
only metonymically, by being made partakers of that freedom 
from the condemnation and guilt of sin, and that reconciliation, 
which Christ purchased by his meritorious death and passion."* 
2 4. This tie- I n reference to these arguments, the remarks of 
ory untenable. Witsius are appropriate: — " Grotius really prevari- 
cates when he thus comments on the passage before us : — ' It 
is a common metonymy in the Hebrew to use the word, sin, in- 
stead of punishment ; and, to sin, instead of, to undergo punish- 
ment ; whence, extending this figure, they are said by a meta- 
lepsis, K^n, to sin, who suffer any evil, though they are innocent ; 
as Gen. xxxi. 36 ; Job vi. 24.' 

" This illustrious person seems to have wrote without atten- 
tion, as the whole is very impertinent. (1.) Though we allow that 

* Whitby's Commentary on Romans v. 19. 
31 



482 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

sin does sometimes metonymically denote the punishment of sin ; 
yet we deny it to be usual in Scripture, that he who undergoes 
punishment, even while innocent, may be said to sin. Grotius 
says it is frequent ; but he neither does nor can prove it by any 
one example; which is certainly bold and rash. Crellius, con- 
futing his book on the Satisfaction of Christ, brings in the saying 
of Bathsheba to David : — ' I and my son Solomon shall be 
counted offenders/ — that is, says he, we shall be treated as 
offenders, or be ruined. But a sinner, or even sin, and to sin, 
are different things. The former is said of Christ, (2 Cor. v. 21 ;) 
but not the latter, on any account. Moreover, to be a sinner, 
does not signify, in the passage alleged, to undergo punishment 
without any regard to a fault or demerit; but to be guilty 
of aiming at the kingdom, and of high treason, and as such to 
be punished. . . . (2.) Though we should grant, which yet we 
do not, in the least, that to sin, sometimes denotes, to undergo 
punishment ; yet it cannot signify this, here ; because the apostle, 
in this place, immediately distinguishes between death as the 
punishment, and sin as the meritorious cause ; ' death by sin.' 
And, by this interpretation of Grotius, the apostle's discourse, 
which we have already shown is solid, would be an insipid tau- 
tology. For, where is the sense to say, ' So death passed upon 
all, through whom all die' ? . . . (4.) It cannot be explained con- 
sistently with divine justice, how, without a crime, death should 
have passed upon Adam's posterity. Prosper reasoned solidly 
and elegantly against Collator, ' Unless, perhaps, it can be said 
that the punishment, and not the guilt, passed on the posterity 
of Adam ; but to say this is in every respect false. For it is 
too impious to judge so of the justice of God : as if he would, 
contrary to his own law, condemn the innocent with the guilty. 
The guilt, therefore, is evident where the punishment is so ; and 
a partaking in punishment shows a partaking in guilt ; that 
human misery is not the appointment of the Creator, but the 
retribution of the Judge.' If, therefore, through Adam all are 
obnoxious to punishment, all, too, must have sinned in Adam."* 
Witsius is slightly inaccurate, in the statement which he 

* Witsius on the Covenants, Book I. chap. viii. 33, 34. 



sect, iv.] Original Sin Imputed. 483 

makes in the same place, that in Genesis xxxi. 36, and Job vi. 
24, to which Grotius appeals, " neither in the Hebrew do we find 
Kttn, to sin, nor in the Greek version, duoTipayeiv" In Genesis 
xxxi. 36, KBn is in the Hebrew; but is rendered in the Greek 
version by Sifidprqpd, not Syairpayeip ; and in the English by 
"sin;" which is undoubtedly correct, 'nxan n? "What is my 
sin ?" The words do not occur in the place in Job ; nor is there 
any thing, in either case, to sustain the assertions of Grotius. 

No modification of the Arminian interpretation is at all recon- 
cilable with the design and argument of the apostle. It is said 
that in the text of Paul the word, sinned, is equivalent to, being 
rendered mortal, — "being so treated, as if they had actually 
sinned," — being subjected to the penalty of the law. These ex- 
pressions are all mere periphrases for subjection to death, the 
wages of sin. If we arbitrarily limit this definition to the verb, 
sinned, and allow the noun to retain its proper meaning, the 
passage will then stand thus: — "As by one man sin entered into 
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, 
because (or in whom) all are subject to death." Or, if we sub- 
stitute either of the explanatory phrases, the result is equally 
objectionable. The infliction of death is the endurance of the 
penalty, — the being treated as sinners. Thus, then, the apostle 
will read, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death 
by sin, and so all men were treated as sinners, because all men 
were treated as sinners." 

If we should substitute the periphrasis instead of the noun, 
sin, as well as the verb, — and the discrimination between them 
is altogether arbitrary, — the result would be, still more utterly 
to confound the argument of the apostle. The very thing for 
which he professes to account is the fact that stands out on the 
whole page of history and of Scripture, — that all men are under 
the curse, — that they are treated as sinners. The problem which 
he professes to solve, is, Why this treatment? And when to 
this question he replies in the most unambiguous terms, and in a 
variety of phraseology, interwoven into a closely wrought argu- 
ment, that it is for sin, — that "to all men death passed through 
him in whom all sinned;" or, if the other rendering be preferred, 



484 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

" because all sinned/' — shall we, instead of accepting the suffi- 
cient and conclusive reason thus given, so interpret the apostle's 
argument as to reduce him to an imbecile repetition of the fact 
which he is professedly accounting for? "All men are treated 
as sinners, because all men are treated as sinners!" The whole 
argument of the apostle, as is unanimously agreed by orthodox 
commentators, and cannot be successfully questioned, is from the 
universal prevalence of the curse to the universality of sin — not 
of individual transgressions, but of the one sin by which death 
reigns over all. His fundamental proposition — which he does 
not attempt to prove, but assumes as unquestionable — is, that 
whenever a man is treated as a sinner he really is one. He con- 
cludes that, since all are so treated, all, then, are sinners ; hence, 
all need the salvation of Christ. 

The argument from the use of the word, sin, to express the 
punishment of sin, when duly considered, so far from establish- 
1 5. Use of the ing the Arminian doctrine, is conclusively against it. 
word, sin. Although in the Old Testament there are a number 
of words used to indicate punishment, there is none which, of 
itself, expresses the idea of punition, — of evil inflicted for the 
satisfaction of violated law. In many instances the idea is con- 
veyed by suggestion. Thus, in Amos i. 3: — "For three trans- 
gressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn it away;" 
that is, I will not prevent the punishment. Job xxxi. 28: — 
"This also were an iniquity for the judge." Sometimes it is 
expressed by, Dj^ T , — vengeance; expressing satisfaction to violated 
personal rights, rather than to the claims of law. See Deut. 
xxxii. 35 ; Ps. cxlix. 7 ; Neh. i. 2, &c. Again, *»D;, is sometimes 
translated "to punish;" but the word expresses, not penal, but 
disciplinary, inflictions, designed for the correction and recovery 
of the subject of them. Comp. Lev. xxvi. 18, 28, 44, 45, with 
Ps. xvi. 7, &c. Words expressive of the form of the infliction 
are also used to indicate punishment; as, n:n, — to smite, — Lev. 
xxvi. 24; Bit?, — a scourge, — Isa. x. 26. 

The most frequent form in which punishment is indicated, is, 
by using some word expressive of sin. It is this characteristic 
of the Hebrew language to which Grotius and Whitby have 



sect, iv.] Original Sin Imputed. 485 

reference, in the arguments by which they attempt to show the 
word, sin, to mean, punishment. But sin is not in any instance 
used to express the infliction of evil upon those to whom crime 
is not attributed. The contrary of this is asserted by Grotius ; 
and he very strangely cites Gen. xxxi. 36 : — " And Jacob answered 
and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin?" — 
and Job vi. 24: — " Cause me to understand wherein I have 
erred." It is true, Jacob and Job were innocent, in the matters 
at issue ; but it is of real sin, — of real errors, — that they predi- 
cate the demand for proof. It cannot be pretended that their 
challenges had respect to any thing else than false accusations of 
real crime. Jacob certainly does not mean to ask, " What is my 
punishment?" The fact that such a writer as Grotius is unable 
to produce any better evidence, is proof conclusive that there is 
none; that the words which signify, sin, are never used to 
express an infliction of evil, unless crime is attributed to the 
victim. 

In no case, in fact, does the word, sin, properly mean, punish- 
ment; but, in all circumstances, it retains its own proper signi- 
ficance; and intimates punishment, not directly, but implicitly. 
The principle which lies at the basis of the entire practice of the 
Scripture, on this subject, is, that in every sin there is essentially 
involved demerit or guilt, for which there must be satisfaction, 
to the penal sanction of the law. Hence, to charge sin upon a 
party, is, to imply, inevitably and by the force of the facts, the 
certainty of punishment. And so inseparable is the recognised 
relation between the sin and punishment, that the latter can 
only be removed by taking away the sin itself. Hence, the 
Psalmist sings, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, 
(Heb. taken away,) whose sin is covered." — Ps. xxxii. 1. That 
our statement, respecting the manner in which punishment is, 
in the Bible, indicated by the word, sin, is correct, will appear 
from the fact, that the punitive sense is not limited to any one 
word ; but, according to the idiom of the Hebrew language, may 
be expressed by any word, which indicates sin. Thus, fig is used 
in Gen. iv. 13; Lev. xxvi. 41, 43; Job xix. 29, &c.nxan, in Lam. 
iii. 39, iv. 6; Zech. xiv. 19. Vtp, in Ex. xxiii. 21; Ps. xxxii. 1. 



486 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

Btf» ; Ps. v. 10, xxxiv. 21, 22. Examples to the same effect might 
be multiplied indefinitely. 

]STo more appropriate scriptures could be chosen, for the illus- 
tration of our doctrine, than those cited by Grotius and Whitby. 
Gen. iv. 7: — "If thou dost evil, sin lieth at the door;" — sin, and 
for it satisfaction must be made. Gen. xxxi. 39 : — "That which 
was torn of beasts, the sin was upon me;" — whether it was 
through a greater or less neglect, I bore the responsibility, and 
satisfied for it. The citations from Job ix. 20, Psalm xxxvii. 33. 
and xciv. 21, are impertinent. 2 Kings vii. 9: — "We do not 
well if we tarry till the morning light; then we shall sin;" to 
wit, against the lives of Israel, shut up in Samaria. Zech. xiv. 
19: — "This shall be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all the 
nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles;" — 
that is, the plagues threatened shall be according to the measure 
of their sin, and satisfaction for it. 

In respect to the use of the word, sinner, in the places quoted 
by Whitby, there are two things to be considered. The first is, 
that whilst the noun, sin, and its derivatives, to sin, and, a sin- 
ner, in their strict acceptation, have respect to the law of God, 
— the rule of divine morality, — they are sometimes in the 
Scriptures, and frequently elsewhere, appropriated to express 
deflection from any specified principle or rule of action. Thus 
we say that he who assumes to himself the entire conversation, 
sins against the rules of propriety. This language intimates no 
moral delinquency ; but merely a violation of the laws of good 
breeding. So, when Judah says to his father, "Send the lad 
with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not 
die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety 
for him; of my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him 
not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me be to thee a 
sinner forever," — Gen. xliii. 8, 9; — not only does the whole tenor 
of the place indicate that the word, sinner, is to be understood 
in a restricted sense; but it very distinctly indicates what that 
sense is. Judah states to his father a rule of duty and obliga- 
tion, according to which he engages to act. He appoints his 
father to be judge in the case; and engages to abide by the de- 



sect, v.] Original Sin Imputed. 487 

cision which, he shall give. Thus, the transaction does not have 
respect at all to the divine law, and moral delinquency, but to 
the proposed covenant with his father; and accordingly he does 
not say, "I will be a sinner;" but, "I will be to thee a sinner." 
In a certain place, Paul says respecting unknown tongues, "If 
I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that 
speaketh, a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian 
unto me." — 1 Cor. xiv. 11. Were an expositor, in discussing 
the narrative of Paul's shipwreck and entertainment by the 
barbarous people of Melita, to appeal to this place, for the pur- 
pose of proving that the words, barbarian, and, barbarous 
people, were not to be understood in their proper sense, it would 
be very preposterous. And yet, the case in reference to the 
word, sin, is precisely similar to this. Because Judah uses the 
word, sinner, in respect to a covenant and pledge of his own 
proposing to his father, limiting the word to the proposed trans- 
action, by the specific phrase, "to thee," — therefore the word, 
when used without limitation or modifying phrase, in respect to 
the law of God and the apostasy of man, must mean something 
else than literally it expresses ! 

The same principle applies to the language of Bathsheba. 
The matter of which she is speaking does not have respect to 
the law of God ; but, to the supposition that, with the tacit con- 
sent of David, Adonijah should inherit the throne of his father. 
In this case, she and Solomon would have been liable to the 
charge of treason ; in planning to divert the succession from him 
whom such a result as that supposed would have pointed out 
and enthroned, as the lawful heir. Thus, she and Solomon 
would have been sinners against the authority and throne of 
Adonijah. The language of Jacob to Laban, already quoted, 
illustrates the same usage : — " That which was torn of beasts, 
the sin was upon me;" — not sin against Gods law, but short- 
coming under the contract between him and Laban, by which 
he was bound to protect the flocks. 

The second thing to be observed in respect to the use of the 
word, sinner, is, that, as these very examples illustrate, the word 
always indicates real deflection from a specified rule. The rule 



488 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

to which, it properly relates is, the law of God. Hence, when 
applied in any other way, it must be accompanied by some in- 
dication of the law to which it has reference, — by something show- 
ing it to be used in a peculiar sense, and not in its proper appli- 
cation, as relating to the law of God. In the argument of Paul, 
it is unquestionably the law of God which is had in view. The 
word, therefore, in that connection, designates violation of that 
law ; that is, moral delinquency. 

The conclusion, which follows from all the facts in the case, 
is, that, — so far is it from being true, that the word, sin, when 
used in relation to the law of God, is ever eliminated of the idea 
of criminality, and used to express mere penal liability, — directly 
the reverse is true; — the primary conception, always contained 
in the word, is, crime, — moral turpitude. The penalty is inti- 
mated by it, only inasmuch as, in the divine government, punish- 
ment is a necessary and universal concomitant of sin. Further, 
the fact is here brought out, that so inseparably are sin and 
punishment related, and so necessarily does the latter imply, and 
grow out of, sin, that, in the origination of the Hebrew tongue, 
and its adaptation and employment for the reception of the 
oracles of God, the divine Author of those oracles did not think 
proper to provide a distinct word, to express punishment. He 
has made the very structure of the sacred language to proclaim 
the fact, that, as there can be no sin unpunished, so, there can 
be no punishment where there is no crime; — the language 
knows not even how to threaten punishment, without uttering 
a charge of sin. 

The only way in which we can conceive the attempt to be 
made to evade the force of this argument, is by the assumption 
I 6. Shmers that, although there must be sin in order to the 
oniypunished. infliction of punishment, it does not necessarily follow 
that they coexist in the same party. If a creature is punished, 
it implies that some one has sinned ; but does not necessarily 
intimate the sufferer to be the sinner ! To this subterfuge two 
insuperable objections may be sufficient, The first is, that, as 
we have seen already, the entire argument of the apostle is 
predicated upon directly the opposite doctrine; to wit, that 



sect, vi.] Original Sin Imputed. 489 

wherever there is punishment it is conclusive proof of sin. 
Death reigned, from Adam to Moses, over all; therefore, all 
were sinners. The second is, that it sweeps utterly away the 
whole doctrine of the Scriptures respecting God's justice. The 
doctrine involved in the justice of God, and proclaimed in his 
word, is, that every intelligent creature shall be dealt with in 
precise accordance with his works, under the provisions contained 
in the law, and the covenant therein incorporated. That law 
provides that the sinner, and the sinner only, shall be punished, 
and that in precise proportion to the enormity of his sins. The 
covenant engages that the righteous shall have life, the favour 
of God. We have elsewhere sufficiently shown that, in this 
matter, there is no neutral position possible, — that he who is not 
at variance with the law is righteous, and he who is not con- 
formed to it is a sinner. The assumption here controverted is, 
that he who is not a sinner, at least so far forth as the matter 
involved is concerned, may be visited with penal inflictions ; — 
that is, he who, by definition, is righteous, may, in violation of 
the covenant, be visited with the curses which the law defines 
as peculiar to sin. The alternative is, the denial of God's justice, 
or the acknowledgment that the sin of Adam is truly and 
properly our sin. " It cannot justly be imputed to us by God 
unless in some way it was ours ; since t the soul that sinneth, it 
shall die.' — Ezek. xviii. 4."* 

If there is any one principle which shines forth on the pages 
of the Scriptures with a light as of the noonday sun, it is that 
thus attested. It is, that at the bar of God, every man shall be 
judged and rewarded in precise accordance with his deserts; 
which certainly have respect to the attitude of the soul, and its 
affections, as well as the actions of the life. When the Scrip- 
tures speak of the justice of God, the meaning is not obscure or 
doubtful. We are plainly and abundantly taught that the rule 
of all his judgments is his law, which is the only criterion of 
merit or crime ; — that there are but two classes of cases recog- 
nised at his bar, viz., those who are conformed to the law, or 
righteous, and those who are not conformed, and are, therefore, 

* Marckii Medulla. Locus vi. 36. 



490 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

criminals or sinners; — and that God's justice consists in the 
fact that to these, severally, he will render a reward appropriate 
and precisely proportionate to their desert. To the righteous 
will be given life, the blessing of the Lord ; and to the un- 
righteous, the rewards of their unrighteousness. All this is set 
forth by the apostle, in the beginning of the epistle, as funda- 
mental to his whole argument. He declares that he is " sure 
that the judgment of God is according to truth, against them 
which commit such things;" and insists that he "will render to 
every man according to his deeds." See Eom. ii. 2-10. The 
only exception to the universal principle thus set forth is the case 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, in his atoning work. And, unless we 
are prepared to deny the uniqueness of the person and work of 
Christ, and the wonderful wisdom, as well as grace, displayed in 
the plan of redemption, we must admit that this very exception 
confirms and establishes the rule. In God's own Son, and in him 
only, shall innocence ever be visited with the inflictions appro- 
priate to crime ; and in his people, and in them alone, shall sin 
ever fail of the curse of God. By the innocent, we mean those 
who are free from the just impeachment of crime. If the word 
has any other meaning, we have failed to discover it. The doc- 
trine which we oppose involves the confounding of all moral 
distinctions, — the infliction on the sinless of the punishment of 
crime, — the endurance by innocence of the curse of the just and 
holy One. If this be so, then are we forced to conclude that 
there is no essential difference between holiness and sin ; or else, 
that, whatever the distinction, the Lawgiver and Judge of all 
is indifferent to it. God's law is fundamental to all we can 
know of his moral perfections. And if the penalty of the law 
can be enforced upon one against whom there stands no criminal 
charge, — or if, on the other hand, the transgressor can escape 
without satisfaction to the penal requirements of the law, — then 
are all moral distinctions obliterated, and the glory of God, the 
great light of the universe, is lost behind a cloud of utter and 
eternal night. 

The Arminian interpretation is, in fact, not an exposition, but 
a contradiction, of the apostle. The sin of which they talk 



sect, vi.] Original Sin Imputed. 491 

— that is, Adam's transgression so imputed to us as to render 
3 7 Punish- us liable to the curse of the law without impeach- 
ment without iug us of criminality and charging upon us turpi- 
crime. tude, — is not sin at all, but a calamity. 

The forcible remarks of a reviewer, respecting Dr. Edward 
Beecher's figment of " apparent causation," are appropriate here. 
— "The principle itself is a nonentity. It is a mere phrase. 
There is no such thing as apparent causation in the sense in 
which he uses the expression. There are different kinds of 
causation ; efficient, occasional, instrumental, and logical or 
rational. ... In every one of these cases the causation is real, 
though of a very different nature. In all we have an antecedent, 
standing in the relation of a sine qua non to the effect. ... In 
every case of causation there is a real connection between the 
antecedent and consequent, the former being the sine qua non 
of the latter. Dr. Beecher admits the apostle asserts that the 
sin of Adam stands in a causal relation to the condemnation of 
his race. rTow, it is one thing to inquire into the nature of this 
causal relation, and another thing to deny it. The former is to 
explain Scripture, the latter is to contradict it. To say that the 
causation is merely apparent, that the sin of Adam i exerted no 
influence whatever on his race,' as Dr. Beecher does, is no ex- 
position, but a flat contradiction, of the apostle's assertion."* So, 
precisely, in the present case. There are sins of omission, and 
sins of commission ; the sin of nature, and actual sins ; sins per- 
sonal, and sins conjunctive or concurrent; sin inherent, and sin 
imputed. But in all cases, the sin is real, consisting in a real 
deflection from the line marked by the law ; in all cases, the sin 
is criminal, and the sinner therefore liable to the infliction of 
wrath. To talk, in respect to God's law, of a sin which is not a 
crime, and does not produce as its first effect moral turpitude, is 
contradiction in terms. When therefore the apostle says we are 
sinners in Adam, — that we sinned in him, and therefore expe- 
rience the curse, — to say that the sin is not in us criminal, but 
that the expression indicates a relation of mere liability to 
punishment, is to contradict this scripture, not to expound it. 

* Princeton Review, 1854, vol. xxvi. p. 113. 



492 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

The idea that we are not really guilty of Adam's sin, but only 
liable to be visited with its penalty, involves an utter confound- 
ing of the proper distinction between the divine sovereignty and 
justice. The former may, unquestionably, do what it will with 
its own. But justice sits in a court of law; and regulates its 
decrees by fixed and unchangeable principles. Its rule is the 
perfect law of God. Its requirement is, perfect conformity to 
that law, deflection from which is sin. If the respondent at its 
bar is able to acquit himself of sin, he stands justified and free 
from penal infliction. If sin is by justice imputed, it is for the 
reason that sin is found to be really there. No man is held to 
answer for the first sin, as it was Adam's; and if it is not his 
own, as it is sin or crime, justice will not account it his, as it is 
a ground of condemnation. In other words, at the bar of justice, 
things are contemplated in no other light than precisely as they 
are. Nothing is there held as ground of condemnation, but sin. 
Nothing is recognised as sin, but deviation from the law. Every 
deviation, whether in nature or person, is sin; and, as such, is 
crime; and, therefore, by law and justice condemned. 

If it be supposed that the divine sovereignty is competent to 
constitute me liable to the penalty of Adam's transgression, with- 
out impeaching me of the very demerit of the act, the question 
at once arises, Why does the word of God point continually to 
the moral relation subsisting between us and Adam, and base 
the process against us, — not upon the ultimate right of the 
Creator as sovereign, — but upon the ground of our responsi- 
bility at the bar of justice, under the sanctions of law? The 
whole aspect of the case indicates, that, the divine sovereignty 
having made us, in Adam, — established a righteous and most 
excellent law, with its alternate sanctions of life and death, — 
erected a tribunal, — and ordained justice to the seat of judg- 
ment, — the whole interests of man are referred to that tribunal ; 
and mere sovereignty does not interpose. 

The Scriptures are, in fact, without a trace of any such prin- 
ciple of divine government, as is implied in an imputation for 
punishment, of that which is not in the victim as sin. Appeal 
will be made to the case of the Lord Jesus, bearing the sins of 



sect, vii.] Original Sin Imputed, 493 

the world; although in him was no sin. But essential to this 
case was that divine authority by which he had a native supe- 
riority to the law, and power over his own life ; and that free- 
dom, by which he honoured the law, in making himself a volun- 
tary subject to its precept and curse, for us. It is certain, that 
had -the sufferings of Christ been involuntary, they would have 
been a violation of justice, instead of being a signal display of 
it. The case, then, proves nothing to the present purpose. Our 
relation to Adam is not pretended to be one of voluntary spon- 
sion and substitution. It does not, therefore, come under the 
same provisions of justice which concern the sufferings of Christ. 
The question is not, what the infinite grace of the infinite One 
is competent to do, in assuming to himself the punishment of 
our sins; but, what the law denounces, and justice demands, 
against creatures who are unwilling victims of its curse. 

The parallel doctrine, in which the righteousness of Christ is, 
by free gift, made really ours, in order to justification, renders 
it necessary that Adam's sin should be really ours, in order to 
our being condemned in it. Whitby seeks to evade the force of 
the argument, by denying that the active obedience of Christ is 
included in the matter of our justification. The logical con- 
nection of the two elements of the Arminian system is evident; 
and if it be true that we are not clothed with Christ's active 
obedience, as well as with the merits of his sufferings, — if we 
are merely by his death freed from the curse, — it then, by 
parity of reasoning, follows, that we are not involved in the sin- 
fulness of Adam's sin; but only included in the calamity of the 
curse, by reason of his fall. It will, however, hereafter appear, 
that they that are Christ's are invested with a full and entire 
property not only in what he has done and suffered, but in all 
that, as Mediator, he is, or possesses. They are not pardoned, 
but justified, — not barely saved from their native penury, but 
clothed with all his infinite wealth. The bearing of all this, upon 
our relation to Adam, is evident. 

In fact, the whole question here discussed resolves itself into 
this : — Are we deservedly liable to the penalty of Adam's sin ? 
And, if it be admitted that we are. what then means, deserved 



494 The EhMm Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

liability? What else can it mean, than that we are morally 
criminal in the sin ? The denial of this involves the assump- 
tion that there is some other standard of moral rectitude and 
crime than the law of (rod, and some other tribunal of judgment 
than that of justice decreeing in accordance with that law. It is 
admitted that the law denounces punishment against us. It is 
admitted that the infliction is just. And yet it is denied that 
he who, at the bar of God's law and justice, is thus weighed 
and found wanting, is morally criminal ! 

That our sin in Adam is real sin, involving us truly in the 
charge of its moral criminality, is evident from the effects which 
flow from it. These are such as attach to real sin, and to that 
only. They are turpitude, or moral corruption ; guilt, or desert 
of punishment; and punishment. And our gravest objection to 
the doctrine of constructive sin which we have been examining, 
consists, not in the exegetical considerations, merely, but in the 
fact that it is logically incompatible with any doctrine of original 
sin whatever. 

We have already had occasion to observe a law of represen- 
tation which runs through the Scriptures, and is developed es- 
§ 8. Law of pecially in the cases of the headship of Adam to the 
identity. race, and the believer justified in Christ. That prin- 

ciple we have stated to be, that " community in a propagated 
nature constitutes such a oneness as immediately identifies the 
possessor, in the relations of that nature in the progenitor 
whence it springs." This principle seems to be but one parti- 
cular, under the general proposition that continuity of organic 
force constitutes identity, in any substance, whether material or 
spiritual. In this expression, we consider an organism as a 
substance, simple or compound, clothed with its distinctive 
forces, constituting it an efficient cause; and by the phrase, 
continuity of organic force, we design to intimate that, in what- 
ever direction those forces flow, and to whatever extent, they 
operate to bind the substances upon which they act in a relation 
of identity. By, identity, is, of course, not meant absolute 
numerical oneness, in all respects ; but that of which, to given 
purposes, the same proposition may be predicated immediately 



sect, vii.] Original Sin Imputed. 495 

and per se. Thus, we have no assurance that the body of the 
aged man contains, among all its material elements, a particle 
which was in it in his infancy. The identity is predicated 
npon the continuous operation of those vital forces which have 
pervaded and built it up, repaired its breaches and determined 
its character. So, too, of the tree or the rock, the star or the 
system. Again, all identities are not of the same order ; as there 
is, for example, a distinct identity belonging to each limb of 
the body, and another, of a higher grade, common to them all, 
in the unity of the body. These grades of identity are deter- 
mined by the degree to which the subordinate substance is per- 
vaded and controlled by the organic forces whence the identity 
is predicated. Thus, forces which are common to the solar sys- 
tem give it an identity of one grade, comprehending in it, not 
only the planets in their mass, but every organism, and every 
atom, belonging to any of them ; all of which are embraced in 
the common forces of gravitation, repulsion, and so on. On the 
other hand, each particular planet has its more intimate identity, 
constituted by the addition to the forces which it possesses in 
common with the others, of those which operate more imme- 
diately upon its own materials. So may we trace a growing 
intimacy of identity, until we come to the indivisible molecules. 
So it is in the moral and spiritual world. By one Spirit 
are believers all baptized into one body. By this baptism, no 
one loses the identity of his own person; but, "by the law of 
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," he is introduced into a higher 
identity, — identity in Him " from whom the whole body fitly 
joined together, and compacted by that which every joint sup- 
plieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of 
every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of 
itself in love." — Eph. iv. 16. It is thus, by the pervasive 
power of the Spirit of Christ moulding and controlling the 
whole, that the identity is wrought, of which Christ so remark- 
ably says, — " That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in 
me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us. . . . That they may 
be one, even as we are one ; I in them, and thou in me, that 
they may be made perfect in one." — John xvii. 21-23. 



496 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

Parallel to this, is the identity which we sustain to the first 
Adam. By birth we acquire a distinct and separate personality, 
having an identity of its own, of the same grade and degree as 
was that of Adam's person. But with this distinct personality 
there is associated a community in Adam's moral nature, by 
virtue of the continuity of forces flowing from him to us, em- 
bracing us in an identity with his nature, and involving our 
communion in his apostasy from God. Hence, the Scripture 
forms of expression, of our being in him, sinning in him, and 
dying in him. 

The sin of Adam was an act in its own nature transient, and, 
when past, left in him nothing but the criminality or desert of 
punishment, the defilement and depravity of nature, and the con- 
sequent condemnation under the curse. These all, by virtue of 
our identity of nature with him, are ours. " God created man 
righteous, and was the author of his nature, though not of his 
sins. But he, having spontaneously depraved himself, and be- 
come justly condemned, generated a depraved and condemned 
offspring. For we were all in that one man, who fell into sin 
through the woman who was made of him before the sin, when 
he, one, corrupted all. The form in which we as individuals live 
was not yet created and distributed to us severally, but the 
seminal nature was created, from whence we were propagated ; 
which nature itself, being by sin vitiated, bound in the chains 
of death, and justly condemned, — man was begotten of man in 
no different estate ; and through this channel, by the bad use of 
free will, the series of those calamities has originated which 
have accompanied the race, — thus depraved in its origin, and, as 
it were, corrupted in the root, — even to the eternal perdition of 
the second death, — those only excepted who, by the grace of God, 
are freed from the bond of misery."* 

It is objected that, if we are in fact guilty of the crime of 
a 9. Contrition Adam's sin, as here asserted, then are we under 
due for the obligation to realize contrition and penitence for it; 
apostasy. j^ ^^ ^- g - g ^possible, inasmuch as we are en- 

tirely unconscious of the sin. Were it impossible to reply to 

* Augustinus De Civitate Dei, Lib. xiii. 14. 



sect, vin.] Original Sin Imputed. 497 

this objection, it would not trouble us, because it is an appeal to 
carnal reason from the testimony of the word of God. But, in 
fact, the objection presents no difficulty that does not arise from 
misapprehension ; for, in the first place, it is not the province of 
consciousness to take cognizance of the past. That is the office of 
reason, resting on testimony ; and, of memory. I am unable, in 
any way, to recall a tithe of the sins of my past life. "Will it, 
therefore, be held, that the criminality of them does not attach 
to me ? I may be convinced, by sufficient evidence, of the fact 
that, in my childhood, I committed a given act of sin. Am I, 
therefore, excusable from the guilt of it, and the duty of heart- 
felt contrition for it, because I search the tablets of memory in 
vain for any trace of the sin ? But consciousness is not so en- 
tirely silent, as some may imagine, in respect to this first all- 
embracing sin of Adam ; and the only reason why any doubt is 
felt, among God's people, on the subject, is, that they do not carry 
with them, always, a distinct apprehension of that in which the 
sin consisted. We have shown, already, that the plucking and 
eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree was a mere accident, follow- 
ing the heart-sin ; — an act, indeed, sustaining immensely important 
relations ; but yet to be distinguished carefully from the cardinal 
matter, of which it was the evidence and seal. The sin was, 
apostasy of man's nature from God ; apostasy, by the force of 
which Adam was impelled into the act of transgression, as an 
inevitable consequence of the state of heart constituted by the 
apostasy. Now, let it be carefully observed that apostasy is an 
act, not a habit ; and, on the other hand, depravity and corrup- 
tion is a habitual state, and not an act. The difference between 
regeneration and sanctification is not more clear nor important 
than that between apostasy and the depravity which it produces ; 
and precisely as regeneration is an act which, once done, is 
finished and can never be repeated, so apostasy can occur but 
once. That once was when the nature of man — the nature of 
the race — revolted, in the person of the father of the race. "We 
only further ask, whether it is possible that any child of God 
can fail to be self-condemned, as guilty, not merely of habitual 
depravity, but of apostasy. Is there one who fails to realize, 

32 



498 The Elohhn Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

in contrition before God, that there is abundant proof within of 
a departure from holiness, which is in him a crime deserving 
God's wrath, and which is the cause of his depravity and of his 
actual sins ? 

In order to an intelligent and right answer to this question, 
let us consider the nature of the emotions respecting sin which 
arise in the heart of one taught by the Spirit of God. Perhaps 
that which most commonly arrests the attention, is the external 
forms of transgression. He finds himself in a position of actual 
outward conflict with the holy law of God. But conscience does 
not long stop here. The outward deeds are traced to a depravity 
of nature, which is their active cause, and the spring of their 
enormity; and the testimony of conscience is that the deed is 
evil because of its evil source. It is only after such views that 
the soul can realize the meaning and join in the earnestness of 
Paul's anguished cry, "0, wretched man that I am! who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death?" But let us trace the 
matter yet a little further. Is the feeling thus realized one of 
conscious guilt merely for the fact that depravity acts ? Or is 
it not, when traced to its ultimate principle, a consciousness of 
responsibility, criminality and condemnation before the bar of 
conscience and of God, for the fact that the depravity exists ? 
The person may never have heard of Adam and the apostasy; 
or, if he have, the subject may not assume the form of conscious 
relation to Adam, and guiltiness in his sin. How or when he 
became depraved, he may not know. But this one thing he does 
know; — in respect to it, the teachings of conscience are unam- 
biguous, — that the depravity which is in him is not proper to 
him, as he is a creature of God; that it came not from the hand 
of his Maker, but is contrary to his law, at variance with his 
holiness, and is hostility to him. That its origin is not of God, 
he realizes with an intensity of assurance which nothing can 
move; and that it is of himself, he is equally conscious. Of the 
date of that origin he knows nothing, except that its existence 
is parallel with his being; but, that its occurrence is in him a 
criminal fact is as surely attested within, as, that its fruits are 
his crimes. In fact, it is only in this consciousness of crimi- 



sect, ix.] Original Sin Imputed, 499 

nality for the fact that depravity exists, that conscience finds 
the fulcrum, upon which to ply the charge of crime in actual 
sins. It is because immanent depravity is our crime, — recog- 
nised as such by conscience, — that active depravity and actual 
sins are so recognised ; since these are the effects, flowing by a 
natural necessity from the other. 

Of the principles here stated, an instructive illustration pre- 
sents itself in the case of Dr. Goodwin, a member of the West- 
minster Assembly. Speaking of his own conversion, he says, 
'" An abundant discovery was made unto me of my inward lusts 
and concupiscence, and I was amazed to see with what greedi- 
ness I had sought the gratification of every sin.' He had 
now," says the historian of the Westminster Assembly, "such, a 
view of the root and fountain of his iniquity, that he ceased 
from going about to establish his own righteousness, — which he 
never before had done. He had such a sense of the exceeding 
sinfulness of his sins that he ' abhorred himself, and repented in 
dust and ashes.' He was humbled under God's mighty hand. 
He was deeply convinced 'that in him — that is, in his flesh — 
dwelt no good thing.' And after tracing his corruption to its 
source, he found it to have originated in the first sin of man ; 
that in him all had sinned, agreeably to that of Paul, 'By one 
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death 
passed on all men, because that all have sinned.' 'This,' says he, 
1 caused me necessarily to conceive that it was the guilt or de- 
merit of that one man's disobedience that corrupted my nature. 
Under such apprehensions as these did my spirit lie convicted 
of this great truth, that, being gone to bed some hours before, 
I arose out of bed, being alone, and solemnly fell down before 
God, the Father of all the family in heaven, and did of my own 
accord assume and take upon me the guilt of that sin, as truly 
as any of my actual sins.'"* Taught by such an experi- 
ence, Goodwin subsequently wrote, on the subject before us, 
that, "as to corruption of nature, that comes to be a sin only as 
it refers to an act of sin, which caused it. If, therefore, that 
corruption become truly and properly a sin in us, as well as in 

* History of the Westminster Assembly. Board of Pub., 1841, p. 273. 



50° The Elohlm Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

him, (Adam,) lie must necessarily be constituted a public person, 
representing us, in respect of that very act of sin ; for it is not 
the want of righteousness simply which is sin, but as relating to 
a forfeiture and losing of it, which they are first guilty of who 
lose it."* 

But few convicted sinners have the power of analyzing their 
own exercises, so as to trace the depravity of their nature to the 
criminal act of depravation, and to locate that in the apostasy 
of Adam. But the process is, in all cases, essentially the same. 
Actual sins are traced to a depraved nature ; and that depravity 
is referred to a depravation, of which, whatever be the history, 
we are the consciously criminal authors. Is the matter, of which 
the awakened conscience has such an intense apprehension, any 
thing else than that apostasy of which our nature was guilty, in 
the person of Adam? If it be not that, what else is it? 

Near akin to the objection just noticed is another, which urges, 
that the view here presented is inconsistent with a proper sense 
§ 10. Sense of of personal responsibility. How it should be so, does 
personal re- no t appear. Every one is conscious of a just ac- 
countability for all personal sins. For every crime 
I may have committed, from the cradle until now, it is, on all 
hands, agreed that I am righteously bound to answer. Upon 
what principle? Is it because the sin proceeded from causes 
extrinsic to my nature ? No, but directly the reverse ; — because 
my nature is the sole cause of the act; and the cause of it, in 
such a way, as to prove itself depraved. Just in proportion as 
influences are admitted to operate, which are extraneous to and 
independent of my nature, is the burden of my responsibility 
lightened. And if it be once proved that the given act did not 
proceed from depravity in my nature, I am at once released from 
all impeachment of crime. Thus, then, it appears that my con- 
scious responsibility for the acts of my person is not, merely, as 
they are personal actions; but, as they are the proofs and out- 
flowings of the depravity of my nature. Further, this responsi- 
bility is not because of any causative relation of my person to 
that depravity. It was not originated by my person, nor in it. 

* Goodwin's Works, vol. iii. p. 16. 



sect, ix.] Original Sin Imputed. 501 

ISTor is it aroused, nor in any way excited or modified, by my 
person. On the contrary, it is the controlling power, to which 
my person is enslaved, — possessing all my faculties, ruling all my 
actions, and infecting all with its malign influence. The responsi- 
bility, therefore, of which all are conscious, in respect to per- 
sonal sins, when analyzed, proves to attach, not to the mere 
action of unlawfulness, but to the depravity of the nature ; — a 
depravity antedating personal existence, and only voluntary to 
me, as a person, in the sense that it has seized and controls my 
will, as well as all my other powers. In other words, it belongs 
to my nature, and is therefore a characteristic of my very being. 
Thus, it appears that conscience, under the unerring teaching 
of the Creator who planted it in the soul, and of the Spirit who 
quickens it, in convincing of sin, lays comparatively little stress 
upon the merely personal aspects of sin ; employing them, mainly, 
as the demonstrations of the moral condition of the nature. And 
so far is it from being true, that the view which we present, — 
of the responsible and criminal relation which we sustain to the 
sin of Adam, — tends to induce confused and inadequate views 
of the evil of sin and our responsibility for it, directly the op- 
posite effect is induced. Every truly convicted sinner realizes 
the meaning and the propriety of David's bitter cry, when the 
hidden depths of his apostate nature were disclosed to him. His 
actual sins were enormous. But that to which he refers them 
all, and which excites the deepest emotion within him, was the 
depraved source, pervasive of his being, whence they flow: — 
"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 
conceive me." — Psalm li. 5. 

In respect to actual sins, there are but three possible theories 
of their origin. To these are appropriate corresponding estimates 
of their enormity. According to one view, man's nature is not 
originally depraved, — the moral attitude of his soul is not na- 
tively such as necessarily to imply deeds of sin. These, there- 
fore, are mere accidents of his person, which do not lay hold of 
the depths of his being, — which do not imply any intense or 
pervasive moral evil in the soul. This, be it observed, is the 
theory which most thoroughly limits the charge of sin to the 



502 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

individual personality. According to it, the whole origin and 
cause of sin is found in, and limited to, the person of the several 
individual. If, therefore, the objection, which we are now con- 
sidering, be valid, we may expect this theory to induce the most 
intense apprehension of the evil of sin, and consciousness of 
personal responsibility for it. The second view is that which 
holds the sin of Adam to be foreign to us, so far as its crimi- 
nality is concerned; but asserts that sin to have been the cause 
or occasion of a depravation of our nature, for which, although 
in its origination we are not morally chargeable, yet in its exist- 
ence and action we are. This depravity, thus arising in us, and 
thus chargeable upon us, is the cause of all actual sins. That 
which is the distinctive characteristic of this view is the fact, 
that, in the last resort, it traces all sin in us to an innocent 
natural necessity. Adam's apostasy, which is denied to be our 
crime, is nevertheless the cause of our depravity and sinfulness. 
Or, — according to a different phase of the theory, — the cause of 
our depravity, whence our sins arise, is found in the judicial 
power of God, visiting us with this as the punishment of a sin 
which we are not required either to acknowledge or repent of! 
How far such a theory is calculated to induce a deep sense of 
God's holy abhorrence of sin, and our own j ust responsibility for 
our wickedness, the reader may judge. The third view, which we 
hold to be that of the word of God, traces all our actual sins back 
to a depravity, the cause of which was the wicked apostasy of 
our nature from God, in the person of Adam ; — an apostasy in 
which we are as truly criminal as Adam was ; because, the nature 
by which it was committed is as really in us as in him. Of its 
identity, it gives abundant pledges, in its alien attitude, and un- 
holy fruits. Thus does this view hold us guilty of personal sins, 
which have no apology in an innocent cause ; — sins whose enormity 
is estimated by the evil of the apostasy, of which they are the 
native and proper fruits. Not only does it charge our sins upon 
us, as persons; but traces these to our nature, — the fountain of 
our being; which it condemns, under the just accusation of being 
a party in that wicked apostasy, which " brought death into the 
world, and all our woe." In this doctrine, whilst we are to be 



sect, x.] Original Sin Imputed. 503 

regarded, on the one hand, as individual persons, that does not 
cover the whole case; but, we are the branches of one vine, — 
the partners of one blood, — the members of one body. That 
vine is degenerate. That blood is corrupted. That body is 
apostate. And the guiltiness, which attaches to our persons, 
not only implies the fact that we are personally corrupt and sin- 
ful, but involves the prior fact, that the nature, in us, which is 
thus revealed corrupt and criminal, is so, essentially and in all 
its aspects and history. The crimes which it produces in our 
persons, are but the outflowing of that same malignant evil, 
which has been characteristic of it in all the generations of men. 
The depravity which we realize, is the putrid stream, whose poi- 
sonous waters flow from the fount of apostasy, in the person of 
the first man, — an apostasy, which, if of his nature, was of the 
nature which we derive from him, our nature; — an apostasy, 
which, if, in him, it was the cause of depravity and sin, is a 
similar cause in us; — an apostasy, which, if it brought him 
under condemnation, not only for the deed itself, but for the cor- 
ruption thence flowing, and the many crimes thereby caused, is, 
in us, burdened with the same infinite and righteous curse, — 
first, for the initial crime, the cause and measure of all the rest ; 
and, thence, for the unholiness and transgression which proceed 
from it. 

Which of these schemes tends the most to honour the holiness, 
the justice, the goodness and truth of G-od, — which is best cal- 
culated to induce the most distinct and adequate sense of indi- 
vidual responsibility, and of the evil of sin, — the reader will 
judge. Which corresponds best with the corrupt dispositions of 
men, it is easy to decide. Any scheme which palliates the in- 
trinsic evil of the depravity of man's nature, and the just re- 
sponsibility to which he is held as the criminal author of his 
own corruption, will be gladly embraced by a nature which loves 
darkness. Long ago did the Pharisees exemplify how pleasing 
the delusion of washing the outside of the cup and platter, and 
admiring its glittering show, heedless of the uncleanness and 
corruption that ferment within. 

The opinion seems to be entertained by some, that the attempt 



504 The Elolilm Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

to base our relation to the covenant and to the apostasy upon our 
gn. Our doc- na tural relation to Adam involves, as a logical 
trine opposed result, the doctrine of mediate imputation. This 
to piaeeamsm. a pp ears to be the idea of a, distinguished reviewer 
of Breckenridge's Theology. Attributing to Dr. Breckenridge 
the opinion to which he excepts this writer says, "We are aware 
that the doctrine of Dr. B. is the doctrine of Calvin, and that 
the chapter in our Confession of Faith, ' Of the Fall of Man, of 
Sin, and of the Punishment thereof,' may be interpreted in the 
same sense ; but the teaching of the Catechisms we take to be 
clearly and unambiguously on our side. There the imputation 
of guilt is direct and immediate, and the true explanation of 
the degraded condition of the race."* 

That Calvin and the Confession base the imputation of Adam's 
sin upon our natural relation to him, is unquestionable. The 
Catechisms, more briefly, intimate the same thing; and we 
understand Dr. Breckenridge in that sense. In the admirable 
work to which these strictures have reference, he says, " There 
are two great facts, both of them clear and transcendent, which 
unitedly control the case. The first is, that Adam was the na- 
tural head and common progenitor of his race. The human 
family is not only of one blood, as has been proved in another 
place, but the blood of Adam is that one blood. The whole 
Scriptures are subverted, and human life is the grossest of all 
enigmas, if this be not true. If it be true, nothing is more 
inevitable than that whatever change may have been produced 
on the whole nature of Adam by his fall, before the existence 
of any of his issue, must have been propagated through all suc- 
ceeding generations. If there is any thing perfectly assured to 
us, it is the steadfastness of the order of nature in the perpetual re- 
production of all things after their own kind. If the fall produced 
no change on the nature of Adam, it could produce none on the 
nature of his descendants. If it did produce any change upon 
his nature, it was his nature thus changed, and not the form of 
his nature before his fall, which his posterity must inherit." " The 
second of the two great facts alluded to is, that Adam was the 

* Southern Presbyterian Review, vol. x., Jan., 1858, p. 616. 



sect, xi.] Original Sin Imputed. 505 

federal, the representative, the covenanted, head of his race, as well 
as its natural head." " There is, doubtless, a wide difference be- 
tween imputed sin and inherent sin. We, however, have both, 
and that naturally ; and it tends only to error to attempt to expli- 
cate either of them, in disregard of the other, or to separate 
what God has indissolubly united, namely, our double relation 
to Adam. It is infinitely certain that God would never make a 
legal fiction a pretext to punish as sinners dependent and helpless 
creatures who are actually innocent." "We must not attempt 
to separate Adam's federal from his natural headship, — by the 
union of which he is the root of the human race ; since we have 
not a particle of reason to believe that the former would ever 
have existed without the latter. Nay, Christ, to become our 
federal head, had to take our nature."* 

So far is it from being the fact that the dependence of the 
federal upon the natural headship involves the mediate imputa- 
tion of Adam's sin, directly the reverse is the case. If our 
relation to the covenant is founded on our natural relation to 
Adam, — if we are, at the bar of God, held to have sinned in 
him because the nature that is in us flowed to us from him, — 
it immediately follows that the responsibilities thence derived 
are the same in their order in us as they were in Adam. If his 
nature was first guilty of apostasy and then of consequent de- 
pravity and sin, it will be so as it flows to us. This doctrine is 
so entirely consistent with that of immediate imputation, that 
De Moor, after devoting twenty-one pages to the refutation of 
Placaeus, plants himself, in harmony with Marck, upon our very 
position as the ground of defence against the objections of those 
who denied immediate imputation. "It is objected that the 
justice of God will not admit the imputation of the sin of 
another. The answer is, in our author [Marck] : Justice will 
not, indeed, permit the imputation of the sin of another which 
is entirely and in every sense alien to him to whom it is imputed. 
Yet it fully approves of the imputation of a sin which is so 
committed by another that there nevertheless intervenes a 

* Breckinridge's Knowledge of God Objectively Considered, pp. 487, 488, 
498, 499. 



The Fluid m Revealed* [chap. xvi. 

certain communion of him to whom it is imputed with the 
immediate author of the sin. And this communion mav be of 
three kinds : either (1) voluntary, such as is between a crimi- 
nal and his surety, in which case previous consent is necessary : 
thus the a 3 E :he elect were imputed to Christ, who volun- 
tarily became surety for them, (Isa. liii. 6: 2 Cor. v. 21): or (2) 
natural, such as is between a lather and his children. (Ex, xx. 5) : 
or (3) political, such as is between a king and his subjects. In 
the second and third modes of this communion, it is not neces- 
sary that he to whom the sins of another are imputed should 
first give his actual consent. This twofold communion, natural 
and moral or political, holds between us and Adam, as he was 
the father of us all and the prince and representative head of 
the whole human race. He was not a private but a public and 
representative person, in whom the law of nature and the com- 
mand which was the test of obedience were proposed to the 
whole human nature ; and who a] - Dg, the whole human 

nature at the same time fell in that one individual representative 
person, (in ipsa ilia persona representative.^ whence that uni- 
versal apostasy is d - y imputed to the whole nature oi 
man.'"* 

"It is objected, that the sin of Adam was a single act* ] 
long before we had existence. But the crime was common, 
since in the sing. I I A I m'a sin -.ere included the universal 
transgression of all men, and violation oi all law. And hence, 
the stream of guilt remains, although the act has passed : - 
for example, the guilt of a murder abides although the crime 
may have been committed twenty years ago. It is objected, 
that, in this case, the guilty person is supposed to remain ; but 
A lam is long since dead. But we all became guilty in Adam. 
Since we were existing in his loins, in him we also sinned. i^Ciini 
in lumbis ejus existentes. in ipso quoqne peceavimus. ~ 

A single additional paragraph will illnsti I the weapons 
which Be Moor uses in refuting Placre:;?. "We listen with 
pleasure to Hoornbeek. expounding this subject : — ' Bo vou ask 

* Pe Moor upon Marck, cap. xy. | 32. Lugd. Bator. 1765, Pars iii. p. 254. 
f Ibid. p. 253. 



sect, xi.] Original Sin Imputed. 507 

whence this sin is in us ? The answer is at hand : — From the 
first common sin of Adam it is imputed to all men descending 
from Adam. In which view, it is necessary to know what person 
or condition Adam sustained, and in what manner the whole 
nature of man is to be accounted to have been so represented 
and confederated, that whatever he previously was, possessed, 
or did, is to be esteemed to have belonged to all men, and there- 
fore the whole nature of man to have been in him. Adam was 
not only an individual person, but in him, as the root, and ac- 
cording to the law of generation, (et stirpis ratione,) the whole 
totality of our nature was accounted. This man stood as the 
root, the source, the head, the fountain, of the whole nature ; 
and this by a double title, — as the natural head from whom the 
whole nature was to be propagated, (Acts xvii. 26 ; Gen. ii. ;) — 
and as the moral head, in whose obedience or disobedience our 
universal nature stood or fell in an equal fortune with his. 
From the former is derived our nature; from the latter, its 
moral attitude. From the one it is that we are men ; from the 
other, that we are such men, whether good or evil.' "* 

It is objected, that we did not sin and fall in Adam as he was 
the natural root of mankind ; else it might be said that all sin 
a 12. Adam's because their immediate parents have sinned. To 
sin, and those this, Dickinson justly replies, " As Adam was but 
of our parents. once> an( ^ none of his descendants were at all, in a 
state of trial for confirmation and establishment in original 
righteousness and happiness ; so, that covenant could be but once 
broken, either by himself or his posterity. We could not be 
guilty of original sin, in Adam, but only when he himself was 
guilty of it by eating the forbidden fruit. We are guilty, not 
merely as descendants from Adam, but as being naturally, as 
well as legally, in him when he violated the first covenant. We 
were, it is true, in the loins of our immediate parents during all 
their transgressions of God's law, as well as in the loins of 
Adam when he broke this covenant ; but we could not be, in them, 
as we were in him, guilty of violating any terms of establish- 
ment in life and peace ; for there were no such terms made 

* De Moor upon Marck, ut supra, p. 267. 



508 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xvi. 

with them. And, therefore, we could not, in them, forfeit a 
confirmation in a state of life and happiness, which was never 
proposed to them, either for themselves or us ; nor could we, in 
them, bring upon ourselves the dreadful consequences of such 
forfeiture in our death and ruin."* The point here considered 
is important, and the objection may be embarrassing to some of 
our readers. We therefore add these considerations : — 

1. The objection implies, and arises out of, a misapprehension 
as to what it is in which that sin of Adam, which is imputed to 
us, consisted; as though it were the mere personal action of 
plucking and eating the forbidden fruit. This misapprehension 
has probably given rise to more objections to the doctrine of 
original sin, and been the consequent occasion of more errors on 
the subject, than any other doctrinal cause. Hence the objec- 
tion, that we cannot feel remorse and penitence for this sin ; and 
hence the consequent denial that, as imputed to and punished 
in us, it is crime. The primary, — the fundamental, — the original 
sin, is to be sought in the depths of man's nature, — in the hidden 
recesses of Adam's heart, unseen by any eye but that of his 
Maker. It consisted in revolt, — in apostasy from God. The 
action of plucking and eating the fruit was, in itself, as a mere 
act, a matter utterly insignificant. Its whole importance con- 
sists in the fact that, to finite intelligences, and to man himself, 
it detected the heart apostasy, and sealed the curse of God, in- 
curred by that apostasy. Now, this sin of apostasy, though an 
act, is an act of such a nature as does not admit of repetition. 
It is like a fall, which should plunge a man irrecoverably to the 
very bottom of a precipice, or the profoundest depths of a gulf. 
He may, he must, remain fallen. But, to fall again, is impos- 
sible. Adam's sons are, and can but be, apostate. But, to sup- 
pose them anew to commit the deed, is, to suppose them to be 
still upright. 

2. There are two classes of actions, which, in this objection, 
are confounded; but which should be carefully distinguished. 
Of these, one consists in such personal actions as result from the 
fact that the nature is of a given and determinate character. 

* Dickinson on the Five Points, Presb. Board of Pub., p. 110. 



sect, xii.] Original Sin Imputed. 509 

These in no respect change the nature; nor indicate any change 
occurring in it ; but constitute mere criteria by which the cha- 
racter and strength of its attributes may be known. After their 
occurrence, the nature flows on, unchanged, to posterity ; convey- 
ing to them not the transient accidents which have thus arisen 
from it, but itself as essentially it is. To this class belong all 
those sins of our intermediate ancestors, which are here objected 
to us. These in no wise modify the nature; nor are they the 
fruits of any change taking place in it, as inherited by them; 
but are the evidences and fruits of its being what it is, in the 
persons by whom they are wrought; and to whom, therefore, 
they attach. The other class consists of such agency, as, 
springing from within, constitutes an action of the nature itself, 
by which its attitude is changed. The single case referrible to 
this class, is that of apostasy, — the voluntary self-depravation of 
a nature created holy. Here, as the nature flows downward, in 
the line of generation, it communicates to the successive mem- 
bers of the race, not only itself thus transformed, but, with it- 
self, the moral responsibility which attaches inseparably to it, as 
active in the transformation wrought by it, and thus conveyed. 

3. There is a great truth involved in the objection; although 
unapprehended by those who urge it. Had Adam — made as he 
was — been placed on probation without limit as to time, and had 
he remained upright, whilst one of his posterity became apostate, 
the crime and corruption thus introduced would have flowed to 
the family of the apostate; precisely as that of Adam does to 
us his seed. This is not the place to point out the wisdom and 
goodness of God, in choosing the dispensation under which man 
actually is, rather than that here supposed. But that is the 
only case, in which sin like Adam's, — apostasy, — could have been 
predicable personally of any of our intermediate ancestry. 

In short, "the sin of the world" which Adam committed and 
Christ came to take away, — apostasy, — the embrace of corrup- 
tion, and rejection of holiness, — once wrought, is finished. The 
original action of apostasy begets a state of depravity and cor- 
ruption, which abides. But the originating act cannot be re- 
peated. The nature once revolted is revolutionized. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ORIGINAL SIN INHERENT — NATIVE DEPRAVITY. 

The fact of man's actual depravity admits of no question. It 
is asserted in the Scriptures. It is attested by all experience. 
§1. Pelagian And so overwhelming is the evidence, as to wring 
and Socmian from the most reluctant lips, ample testimony to its 

admissions. • i«, »,, -i • 1 i •. 

universality, its odious character and its power. 
Of this, we have seen an instructive example in the case of Dr. 
Edward Beecher. Compelled by the irresistible evidence of this 
truth, and misguided by an inveterate hostility against the doc- 
trine of original sin, he takes refuge in the Platonic dream of 
pre-existence. Of the proof of man's deplorable depravity, Dr. 
Beecher says, " Indeed, so plain are the mournful realities, that 
the most eminent Unitarian divines do not hesitate to state them, 
with an eloquence and power which cannot be resisted. That I 
may avoid even the appearance of exaggeration, I will state the 
facts in the words of such men as President Sparks, Professor 
Norton, Dr. Burnap, and Dr. Dewey."* 

After exhibiting the testimony of these writers, he describes 
the style in which the subject is treated by orthodox divines. 
"To illustrate their ideas of the activity and power of this de- 
praved nature, they resort to the most striking material analo- 
gies. It is like a glowing furnace, constantly emitting flames 
and sparks; a fountain, sending out polluted streams. It is a 
seed or seed-plot of sin. Original sin, by which it is thus cor- 
rupted, is a stain or infection pervading all the powers of the 
soul. It is a noisome root, out of which do spring most abundantly 
all kinds of sin. . . . Nor does their language convey an idea at 

* Conflict of Ages, p. 52. 
510 



sect, i.] Original Sin Inherent. 511 

all too strong, of the fearful power of the actual developments 
of human depravity, in the history of this world, — even as stated 
by Unitarians, — or of the great truth, that there must be in 
man some adequate cause, before action, of a course of action so 
universal, so powerful, so contrary to right, to the natural laws 
of all created minds, and to his own highest interests."* 

JSTo more unexceptionable evidence could be desired, as to the 
force of the facts, to command the recognition of the most un- 
l 2. tu facts willing, and overcome the partiality of the most 
of the case. prejudiced. But all these fall utterly short of an 
adequate exhibition of the intensity and depth of the depravity 
of man. The wars and violence, the sensuality, the oppressions, 
the anger, drunkenness and adultery, incendiarism and murder, 
upon which Pelagian and Socinian writers dilate, are but the 
accidental and comparatively trivial consequences, which flow 
from that, in which the depravity essentially consists. There 
are two tables to the law. The crimes here enumerated belong 
to the second, — assailing the rights of our neighbours, and vio- 
lating the duties which we owe to ourselves. But "the first 
and great commandment of the law is, Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy strength, and with all thy mind." It is in the violation of 
this commandment that men's depravity originates and is pre- 
eminently displayed. And it is not among the least of the illus- 
trations of that depravity, that they are so ready to magnify 
the evil of crimes against each other, and to slight and overlook 
those against the Most High. The essential and distinguishing 
characteristic of man's depravity is, hatred to God and to that 
holiness which constitutes his glory and the creatures' likeness 
to him. 

We have shown that the object of God in giving existence to 
the creatures, was to concentrate them around himself, and to 
exercise in them, and reveal to them, his attributes and per- 
fections. He set himself as the great end of all his works. We 
have seen it to be infinitely right, that thus it should be ; and 
not only right, but perfectly consistent with designs of infinite 

* Conflict of Ages, p. 70. 



512 The EloJdm Revealed. [chap. xvii. 

goodness to the creatures; and constituting in fact the best, most 
glorious and most effectual means to the accomplishment of such 
designs. If a creature ever be happy, it is, from the very nature 
of the case, necessary, to that end, that his blessed Creator be 

" The circle where his passions move, 
And centre of his soul." 

Now, it is apparent, that every principle of reason, honour and 
gratitude demands that we, whose pulsations each are impelled 
by God, and who are not only indebted to him for our being, at 
first, but are each moment debtors to his immediate sustaining 
hand for the gift of that moment's existence, should gladly 
recognise, and render grateful acknowledgment of, the debt, by 
using the moments thus numbered out, as the Giver requires, — 
in his service and for his glory, in which our highest happiness 
lies. It is equally clear, that — being indebted, besides existence, 
for the privilege of occupying and using a portion of God's other 
creations — we are bound, if we would not be robbers of God, to 
use them according to the will and for the honour of Him who 
lends them to us. Still further, when we consider our own 
habitual unfaithfulness, and shortcoming, in these things, and 
observe the long-suffering and forbearance of God, in withhold- 
ing the punishment, which we have thus incurred, an untold and 
immeasurable obligation rests upon us. Yet more, when we add, 
that, not only is judgment withheld, and perdition postponed, 
but salvation and glory in heaven, in the very presence and 
bosom of God, are pressed upon us, with the tenderest love, and 
the most gracious importunity, — a salvation and glory, purchased 
for us at the amazing price of the incarnation and dying agonies 
of the Son of God, — what a debt is here ! By what overwhelming 
arguments does God challenge our all ! "What is there that we 
ought not to be willing to do? What have we, whether of 
powers or possessions, which we should not gladly and fully sur- 
render to him? Do not such considerations demand, that this 
whole world should be one vast temple; every human heart an 
altar, on which should smoke the perpetual sacrifice of love and 
self-consecration; and every tongue a harp, pouring forth un- 



sect, ii.] Original Sin Inherent. 513 

ceasing strains of adoring and admiring thanksgiving and 
praise ? 

But how different the reality which the world exhibits ! Satan, 
in his impious rebellion, thrust himself into the place of pre- 
eminence, — setting up his own will and pleasure as the supreme 
law, and himself as his ultimate and only end. Thus, not only 
is he apostate from holiness and the Holy One, — but, with a 
mad ambition, the Adversary aims to usurp the throne and 
sceptre of God. With vaulting wickedness, he demands even 
of the Son of God the homage of worship and the bended knee ; 
and claims, as his own, all the kingdoms of the world, and their 
glory. This atrocious example man follows; and enrolls him- 
self under Satan's banner. So far from making God our chief 
good, and his glory our chief end, "God is not in all our 
thoughts;" — we forget him altogether. Instead of recognising 
with gratitude his right to the time, which his goodness gives, 
and his mercy prolongs, — we spend it according to our own 
pleasure, and for our own purposes. Instead of owning, with 
reverent awe, his sovereignty and power, and the holiness and 
authority of his law, — we treat his authority with indifference, 
transgress his law, without hesitation, and incur his curse, with- 
out dread. When he sent his own Son, to recall men, from their 
mad and wicked apostasy, back to his knowledge and allegiance, 
he, whose presence on earth was the pledge of the infinite love 
and the condescending compassion of a God, — he, who was holy, 
harmless, undefiled, full of grace and truth, — whose countenance 
beamed with love, — whose life was one story of beneficence, — 
and whose lips, speaking as never man spake, told of the re- 
opened way to God's favour, and a forfeited heaven, — was pur- 
sued with an unrelenting hate, which rested not till it had 
tracked him to the garden of agony, and exulted over his dying 
cry as he expired on the cross. And when his ambassadors are 
sent forth to proclaim the amazing mystery of God's love to 
man, which presided over all that scene of sorrow and blood, and 
through it provided salvation to the murderers, and redemption 
for a world, — when men are invited to forsake the alliance of 
Satan ; to turn from the ways of sin and death ; to enlist them- 

33 



The Ekkim Rer*al<d. 

_ 

:r ~ :>:'-£ ::_:": -_ _ . '. - . : . z:"_l: — -:r? :: ~.'l-. :: : : : _±-r\ 

: 

■ '•'■ - ' - ' 
■_ - - " -_ . ■ - - ■ " . . •-. _ - ■ ... _ .: .- l : >- ■-- :: • r- 

■ZZ-L-lT-Zz 

IT _ * - ' * . ~ '~ ' ~ :_r - r~ i:f 



; 



::•-. : 



:_".- i- Original Sin Inherent. 515 

thai it eminences with rai very ang in i sense Kke to that 
xik-tree xnnmences with the acorn I believe this 
lability tc be such thai just as soon as there k _. 
matnrity enough foi ievelo] ^^i: H will levelof itself in 

:_ infl . _ ;iti — C^e: — :: =in. I believe this 

: the natural state -.:_-. ". man while rigmalstai 

'. ■.-: :: : ~i .7 : . ii :".. : . .- " . .:.. in nt ^lir:;- :: Lis -. v.: :- \:_ "..„:. .-- ■ 
just the reverse :: what it now is Row, what more or leas than 
id discs - rvocateof the k ::::_r :: n _ .- 
iialsraconten 3 foi " ' >f these snsce fciblliiies he says How 
in with any proper consistency and i gardto the 
real nature :: m . id th b i £ea :: Sod thai nd o Sve 

i L~ _ bs an tc : ssert Ihs : they 

in A _ - fare 1 ben several ; : -: si - 

that the Son :: 5od h 1 them Indeed says he 
: . nature b dy hum n with fc suehasuf 
bilit" But if Adam, in his original state had ; of the 

— ii the 3 : - _ _ . . 

b I — _.._-.._:. [ - la- 

bility :: this kind to be in its Ii 'Was Ad m 
::_ i_ - : ii Is He, who knr~ no sin, tc 

; r he ;:\;i:l feel the now aticement :: sanl Th 

not needs specific answer. hy, then should we 
notcrj: in theologizing? That which Adam 

- . - - Lt of his very natm fore his Ml — that 

h the Saviom himself possessed wh m he was 'tempted in 
all points, as wc arc — h t be ;.\ii I, sin H 

fchusl _ 

I if it is not, then why should th - thing be I, sin, in 

- it tie pre? lef I grant that the : . ■ -. if this 

■:-ptibility is v l that whi:h. ^ ?: ..' 

in th: Saviour. In the latter the sosc - - 

car of excitement to action from objects good indholy were :.!::- 
>minantj in mankind anee Ihe :i.Li and in fiheh 
state Ihey /;-: just Ehc i averse \ 

met. BQVttepos. Jwfy, 1839,^48 - Ecii 7 :•: 



516 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xvii. 

The susceptibilities of which Dr. Stuart thus speaks, he postu- 
lates, to the entire exclusion of any depraved disposition, or any 
thing which constitutes an efficient cause of sin, as native in the 
soul of man. And it is a very curious illustration of the inevi- 
table contradiction and absurdity of error, that this writer, in 
his eagerness to get rid of the idea that any thing can be sin but 
actions, here involves himself in the preposterous assumption 
that the sinner is always passive in sinning. The susceptibility 
which he describes, is an innocent liability to be impelled into 
acts of transgression by the efficient power of "sinful and enticing 
objects," which are external to the soul. By the force of these, 
availing themselves of the susceptibilities, sin is induced, and that, 
as an unfailing result : — " Man, in his native state, and from the 
origin of his being, has the germ of nascent susceptibilities of 
impression by objects that entice to sin; and these will with cer- 
tainty lead him to sin, as soon as he is capable of knowing a di- 
vine law, and of voluntarily disobeying it."* Now, a suscepti- 
bility is altogether a passive thing, and cannot by any process 
be made any thing but an opportunity for the operation of active 
causes ; and, in the whole of the discussion of Dr. Stuart, the word 
is used, and the arguments directed, to the exclusion of any de- 
praved disposition, — of any force, in the nature of man, producing 
sin. We must, therefore, look to some other quarter for the effi- 
cient cause. "We are thus shut up to the conclusion, that the 
"sinful and enticing objects" of which our author makes so much 
account, in his discussion, are forces which operate efficiently, and 
per se, to impel the soul into acts of transgression. The reader 
will at once recognise the relation which this notion sustains to 
the doctrine of Edwards, on the subject of motives, and his theory 
of the propagation of sin, elsewhere examined. The principle, 
as employed in the present case by the Andover professor, draws 
after it the immediate and inevitable conclusion that, however 
men may and must become sinners, by the force of circumstances, 
they are entirely free from criminality. Sin, according to the 
theory, is actual transgression of known law ; and it is a further 

* Amer. Bib. Repos. July, 1839, p. 49. 



sect, iv.] Original Sin Inherent. 517 

principle of the same theology, as we have already seen, that the 
sinfulness of the act is entirely irrespective of its cause. Thus 
men are passively borne into acts of transgression, by the force 
of "sinful objects" externally operating upon their innocent sus- 
ceptibilities. In this way actions are induced, which, according to 
the definition, are sins. But, then, it is to be considered that an 
innocent susceptibility cannot by any process be converted into 
a criminal thing. No matter how powerfully the sinful objects 
may have operated upon it, — no matter what amount of sin they 
may have produced by occasion of it, — the susceptibility remains 
but a susceptibility to the last, and can by no possible process 
be infected with the criminality of which it is the passive occa- 
sion, any more than is the dagger with the crime of which it has 
been the instrument. This theory, therefore, not only renders 
the sinner altogether passive in the commission of sin, but pre- 
cludes the imputation either of crime or depravity to the most 
reckless transgressor. For, agency that is merely passive, — and 
such is that supposed, so far forth as it is sinful, — is not crime 
in a man, any more than in a weapon ; and a susceptibility such 
as is here supposed can never, by any process, be changed from 
a passive occasion into an active and efficient cause. 

Thus, according to this pretentious but shallow philosophy, 
we should commiserate the wicked, as the victims of an innocent 
and fatal necessity, rather than abhor their depravity, and re- 
cognise the justice of God in its punishment. "We do not here 
urge the inconsistency of this doctrine with the teachings of the 
Scriptures. This has been already demonstrated, and will yet 
further appear in the sequel. 

3. There are two categories under which the depravity which 
infects our nature is usually described. These are, — the want 
1 5. Elements of original righteousness ; and, the corruption of 
of depravity, the whole nature. They are not, however, to be 
regarded as two separable items in the case,— two several counts 
in the indictment ; but are merely two distinct aspects in which 
we may view one and the same thing. The one is the negative, 
and the other the positive, statement of the case. As a gnarled 
stick has two faults, — the one, that it is not straight ; the other, 



518 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xvii. 

that it is crooked, — so man's soul has in it two evils : it is not 
conformed to the law of God ; and it is hostile to that law and 
to its author. Although, however, there is this inseparable 
identity in the two aspects of the case, and it is important that 
their unity be recognised and guarded, still, light will be gained 
from viewing the subject in these several aspects, and combining 
the conclusions which result from each. 

In exhibiting the image of God, in which Adam was created, 
his original righteousness was described as consisting in a pre- 
disposition of his nature to conformity with the will of God, as 
sovereign, — a symmetry and harmony of all his powers with the 
law, ready to fulfil its precepts, and inducing works of obedience, 
so soon as he entered on the sphere of action ; and his holiness, 
as a conformity of all his affections and dispositions to God, as 
the Holy One. Correlative is the distinction between man's 
native want of righteousness, and the corruption of his nature. 
The former has its appropriate aspect toward the law, — the 
latter, to the nature of the Holy One. 

That man's nature is not now conformed to the law of God, — 
that it is not predisposed to obedience, — we need not pause to 
Wantofright- prove. On this subject, so conclusive is the evi- 
eousness. dence of experience, and so unambiguous the teach- 

ing of inspiration, that there is entire agreement among those 
who pretend to reverence the Scriptures; and, even among 
deists, it is rare to meet with the assertion of the contrary. It 
is, however, necessary to emphasize the fact, that this want of 
original righteousness is not a merely negative thing. It is not 
mere absence of positive goodness. Even viewed in itself, it is 
actual crime. The law demands conformity. If the nature fail 
to meet this demand, it stands in a criminal attitude, condemned 
at the bar of justice. Of this, however, we have already spoken. 

But the want of righteousness, although of itself a great 
moral evil, deserving God's righteous curse, is the mildest aspect 
Actual de 2 )ra- of the depravity which is in us. The evil in man's 
«%■ nature consists not in the fact, merely, that his powers 

fail of conformity to the demands of the law ; but that they 
occupy an attitude of direct and inveterate antagonism to the 



sect, v.] Original Sin Inherent. 519 

law, and its author, the Holy One. The evil is not, merely, that 
his voluntary actions are sinful. Xor is it, only, that there 
is an antecedent certainty that they will be such. But it is such 
a certainty, arising from the fact that the effect is in the cause, 
and will flow from it. Man's actions are sinful because his very 
nature is depraved. Whilst the debasing influence is traceable 
in all the powers of body and soul, especially are the moral 
faculties, the reason, conscience and will, infected by the malign 
power of the apostasy. 

The evidences of this depravation appear in the reason, in 
every aspect of its functions. That unerring discrimination 
with which, in Adam, it distinguished, with intuitive clearness 
and certainty, between the truth and error, is gone. Groping in 
darkness and incertitude, it accepts falsehood with a facility 
refused to truth ; and, upon foundations of error, rears fabrics 
of pretentious folly. That loftiness of aspiration which made 
the great things of God its congenial themes has given place to 
a proclivity for the unworthy and grovelling. Instead of a pure 
spirituality, which was exalted above all sensual and fleshly 
influences, it has become a slave of carnality and a pander to the 
body. And that spontaneous and unwearying activity, by which 
once it was characterized, is exchanged for a spirit of self-in- 
dulgent indolence and stupidity. In short, the debased condition 
of man's fallen reason is seen in the gathering gloom of bar- 
barism which enshrouds in its pall those nations which have been 
longest without the light of God's word; and in the polished 
sensuality and cultivated ferocity which are the true character- 
istics of the proudest attainments of unevangelized civilization, 
whether of olden Greece or of modern Europe and Asia. 

Such is the condition of the reason of man in his fallen state, — 
degraded and enslaved. Its most signal characteristics are, 
blindness, sensuality, and slothfulness, and proclivity to the dust. 
Peculiarly is it alien to the light and knowledge of God. Men 
have " the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life 
of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the 
blindness of their heart." — Eph. iv. 18. "When they knew 
God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful ; but 



520 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xvii. 

became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was 
darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 
and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image 
made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts 
and creeping things." — Kom. i. 21-23. 

Still more deeply has the apostasy set its impress on the moral 
sense and conscience. The sense of the beauty of holiness and 
deformity of sin is utterly lost. On the contrary, to the per- 
verted conscience, evil assumes the guise of good, and sin has 
more attraction than holiness. " The natural man receiveth not 
the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him, 
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually dis- 
cerned." — 1 Cor. ii. 14. Hence the necessity of that illumina- 
ting, as well as transforming, power, of which the people of God 
are the subjects. " We have received not the spirit of the world, 
but the Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the things 
that are freely given to us of God." — 1 Cor. ii. 12. Not only, 
thus, is the conscience blind to the truth and beauty of the 
things of God; — but, whilst unable to shake off the sense of 
God's rightful authority, and the obligation of his holy law, it 
wears that consciousness as it were a galling fetter; and is ever 
disposed to a traitorous forgetfulness of the claims of God, and 
to encourage the transgressor in dreams of safety from his 
righteous curse. The wicked blesses himself, and says, "I 
shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine 
heart, to add drunkenness to thirst." — Deut. xxix. 19. 

Kesponsive to the attitude of the fallen nature, the will is 
apostate and perverse. As the holy affinities which were ori- 
ginal in the nature have been discarded, and the opposite em- 
braced, the result is a correspondent bias of the will to that 
which is evil, and opposition to the good. Hence, the experienco 
of the apostle, who, although renewed in the spirit of his mind, 
found the remains of his native corruptions so powerful that, 
when he would do good, evil was always present with him. (Bom. 
vii. 15-21.) To the same purpose is the challenge with which 
our Saviour emphasizes the inevitable bent of the will of men 
to evil : — "0 generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak 



sect, v.] Original Sin Inherent. 521 

good things ? for out of the abundance of the heart the month 
speaketh." — Matt. xii. 34. We have elsewhere shown that 
the depravity which is characteristic of man implies and an- 
nounces an attitude of his powers, in antagonism to God, — an 
attitude which of itself constitutes the cause, and determines the 
infallible certainty of the fact, that his will and actions are in 
violation of the holy law, and hostile to God. The position of a 
globe, on the pitch of a declivity, does not more certainly decide 
its descent to the bottom, than does the attitude which is native 
to the powers of the soul determine their action in directions con- 
trary to the law and holiness of God. 

The doctrine of human depravity we have seen fully de- 
§ 6. Doctrine of veloped in the epistle to the Romans. In the fol- 
the Scriptures, lowing glance, it will appear, that it is not peculiar 
to that epistle, nor to the writings of Paul. 

1. A corruption which includes all men, and all the powers 
of man, is asserted in the Scriptures. Before the flood, "God 
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that 
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 
continually." — Gen. vi. 5. And, lest the description might be 
supposed appropriate to that generation alone, the same language 
is reiterated, after the deluge, in respect to all subsequent genera- 
tions: — "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's 
sake, for (or, though) the imagination of man's heart is evil from 
his youth." — Gen. viii. 21. Says the Psalmist, " They are corrupt, 
they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, 
to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy : 
there is none that doeth good, no, not one." — Psalm xiv. 1-3. 
"The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in 
their heart while they live." — Eccles. ix. 3. "The heart is de- 
ceitful above all things, and desperately wicked : who can know 
it?" — Jer. xvii. 9. The unregenerate are described as "haters 
of God," — Pvom. i. 30; "alienated and enemies in their mind, by 
wicked works," — Col. i. 21; as "walking according to the course 
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, 



522 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xvii. 

the spirit that now worketli in the children of disobedience;" — 
"having their conversation in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the 
desires of the flesh, and of the mind." — Eph. ii. 2, 3. 

2. The depravity thus charged upon man, is attributed to him 
as an original trait. Says Eliphaz, "What is man, that he 
should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he 
should be righteous ? Behold, He putteth no trust in his saints ; 
yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more 
abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like 
water !" — Job xv. 14. Says the Psalmist, " Behold, I was shapen 
in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." — Ps. Ii. 5. 
"The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as 
soon as they be born, speaking lies." — Ps. lviii. 3. 

3. Man's depravity is referred to his parentage and his nature 
as its cause. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? 
not one." — Job xiv. 4. "That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel 
not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." — John iii. 6, 7. 
"Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so 
every good tree bringeth forth good fruit ; but a corrupt tree 
bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil 
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." — Matt, 
vii. 16-18. "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed 
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetous- 
ness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, 
pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within, and 
defile the man." — Mark vii. 21-23. "Either make the tree 
good, and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt, and his 
fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by his fruit. generation 
[or, seed] of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things ? 
for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A 
good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth 
good things; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth 
forth evil things."— Matt. xii. 33-35. 

4. The depravity which is thus natively in men, is represented 
as justly exposing them to God's vindictive curse; prior to, and ir- 
respective of, their actual sins. " By one man sin entered into the 



sect, vi.] Original Sin Inlierent. 523 

world, and death by sin ; and so to all men death passed through 
the one in whom all sinned." — Eom. v. 12. "In Adam all die." 
— 1 Cor. xv. 22. Men are "by nature the children of wrath." — ■ 
Eph. ii. 3. 

The ruin into which man is thus fallen is, by him, without 
remedy. He can neither love God, obey his law, nor trust in 
I 7. Total Christ when he is revealed. Says our Saviour to 
inability. the Jews, "I\o man can come to me, except the 

Father which hath sent me draw him." — John vi. 41. 

Fundamental to any reconciliation of man with. God, there 
must be such an illumination of the understanding, that he shall 
realize the very truth, the importance and the excellence of the 
things of God. But, that man is, naturally and in himself, dis- 
qualified to apprehend these things, is, constantly and in the 
most unambiguous manner, asserted in the Scriptures; as we 
have already seen. In one word, the apostle declares that, "If 
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost ; in whom the 
god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe 
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the 
image of God, should shine unto them." — 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. Thus, 
groping in darkness, and involved in ignorance, men can neither 
realize the evil of their own condition, the excellency of God, 
nor the necessity of return to him; nor can they know the way. 

But this is not the worst of the evil. Dark as is man's un- 
derstanding, and perverted as is his conscience, he has sufficient 
light to bring him under a conscious condemnation for the per- 
version of his affections from truth and holiness. When God 
reveals himself in his providence and word, so that men are 
compelled to a certain recognition of him, they do not love, but 
hate him. And this our Saviour himself declares to be the 
condemnation, "that light is come into the world, and men 
loved darkness rather than light." — John iii. 19. Men are 
"haters of God." They "like not to retain God in their know- 
ledge."— Rom. i. 28, 30. 

But where is to be found, in the range of that ability of which 
men boast, a remedy for vile and perverted affections, and a hos- 
tile nature ? How shall we persuade the natural man, to delight 



524 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xvii. 

in God? Shall we enlarge on his holiness, his justice, his infinite 
excellence? Alas! these are the very things which the carnal 
mind both dreads and hates. Describe to it, the pantheon of 
Greek mythology; — depict the orgies of Babylonian or Cyprian 
worship, the pleasures of a Mohammedan or Brahminical heaven, 
and you will arouse responsive emotions. But God, in his true 
and holy character, the experience of the whole world concurs 
with the apostle to testify, men dislike to retain in their know- 
ledge ; and, to escape from it, they have grovelled in the worship 
of beasts, and loathsome things, and devils. "The carnal mind 
is enmity;" — and to hope that it may be persuaded to love, is to 
imagine that in the harsh and jarring notes of hatred there is 
an under strain of concord and harmony. It is to confound all 
distinction of the affections, — to suppose that malignity can 
delight in excellence, and depravity melt into admiring love of 
holiness. It is not therefore true, that man in his depravity can 
repent, hate sin, love God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or 
come to him; — expressions, which, so far as the present question 
is concerned, are identical in their purport. By the fall he not 
only cast off holiness and embraced corruption, but sealed him- 
self to sin, and to ruin, as their helpless prey. His loss is not 
an injury, merely; but an utter destruction. 

We have entirely disregarded the distinction between natural 
and moral ability. It has no countenance in the word of God. 
§ s. " Natural It is founded in an incorrect and deceptive use of 
ability." language ; and is exceedingly dangerous in its prac- 

tical tendency. It is asserted, that man's inability to obey God 
consists solely in a perverse inclination ; and, in favourite lan- 
guage, it is said that "cannot" means "will not." Men have 
even gone so far as to lay down prescriptions, by way of instruct- 
ing the impenitent how to make themselves new hearts ! 

The first thing which we here notice is the psychological ab- 
surdity of treating the will as though it were something distinct 
and separate from the substance of the soul. It is supposed to 
have fallen a prey to the power of sin, whilst the other powers 
have escaped the infection. Since the will is nothing else than 
the soul itself, contemplated in reference to its power of 



sect, vii.] Original Sin Inherent. 525 

choosing, — and since its determinations are, necessarily and uni- 
versally, responsive to the nature, — it is absurd, as we have seen 
it to be unscriptural, to imagine that the will can be corrupt 
and the other powers remain in their integrity. 

Further, it is impossible to reconcile with reverence for the 
word of God, the assertion, that in its pages, " cannot" means 
" will not." Is it so, that the Spirit of inspiration and the Son 
of God were ignorant of the force of language, and said one 
thing when they designed another ? Or will the no more impious 
alternative be adopted, that the language is used with design to 
deceive ? A candid examination of such places as John vi. 65, 
will satisfy the reader that the very design of the statement was 
to account for the prevalence of the " will not" among the unre- 
generate. "Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see 
the Son of Man ascend up where he was before ? It is the Spirit 
that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I 
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are 
some of you that believe not. . . . Therefore said I unto you, that 
no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my 
Father." — Some of you believe not ; and it was in reference to 
this fact that I stated the reason : — it is, — that no man can come 
to me of himself. 

Should any one be ready to repudiate all these absurd and 
unscriptural ideas, and yet insist upon the propriety of the dis- 
tinction between natural and moral ability, we must object, for 
several reasons. 

1. If any fixed significance is to be attached to language, the 
word "ability" expresses competence to accomplish the thing 
contemplated. By " natural ability" is meant, in the view now 
considered, the fact that man has reason, conscience and will; 
and is capable of the affections of love, hatred, joy, sorrow, 
pity, and so on. It is admitted that these are all perverted, and 
that nothing less than almighty power can restore them to their 
right attitude. ISTow, we ask, is it correct use of language to 
say, that because man has the affection of love, — because he 
spontaneously loves sin, therefore he has a natural ability, at 
pleasure, to hate sin and love holiness ? — that because, under 



526 The Elohim Revealed, [chap. xvii. 

certain circumstances, emotions of sorrow instinctively arise, it 
follows that lie has a natural ability to sorrow for sin ? It is 
as though we should say, that one is able to speak, because his 
vocal organs are perfect in form, though paralyzed. It is as if 
we should examine the machinery of an engine, and, upon find- 
ing each piston and cylinder, each wheel and lever, perfectly 
shaped and rightly adjusted, assert it to be able to start forward 
and perform its office, although the motive power is wanting. 
The most perfect intellectual machine can have no ability to 
moral action, unless the moral power is attached. And as it is 
acknowledged that the moral power is wanting in fallen man, 
ability to right moral action is entirely wanting. The natural 
faculties must fail, impotent as the palsied tongue, powerless and 
still as the steamless engine. We cannot properly assert ability, 
in any case in which full power to do is not present. 

2. This lame and untenable conception is logically identified 
with the doctrine that ability must be commensurate with obli- 
gation, — a doctrine, in its turn, immediately leading to the heresy 
of perfectionism. The command is, "Be ye perfect, even as 
your Father which is in heaven is perfect." If the doctrine be 
true, this command involves the assertion of a power in all men 
to be perfectly conformed to the image of God. They are con- 
sistent who have accepted the conclusion, and asserted for them- 
selves the attainment of a sinless state, — of which John says 
they who claim it " deceive themselves, and the truth is not in 
them." — 1 John i. 8. How different the teachings of the Scrip- 
tures, which unfold the eternal law of God, unlimited by the sin 
and frailty of man ! Copied from the perfections of the Holy One, 
they bear inscribed on every page the righteous mandate, and 
the inexorable curse, upon " every one that continueth not in 
all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." 

3. The distinction indicated by the phrases, "natural and 
moral ability," is without a shadow of countenance in the Scrip- 
tures. They, everywhere, regardless of any such philosophical 
subtleties, assert man's inability, in the most absolute and un- 
limited terms. The gratuitous introduction of the phraseology 
here considered, thus contrary to inspired example, and at vari- 



sect, viii.] Original Sin Inherent. 527 

ance with sound reason and the analogy of faith, could not, 
therefore, but be dangerous. As experience has too fully proved, 
it is most disastrous, — ensnaring unregenerate souls into a false 
confidence and fatal hopes, and beguiling the ministry away 
from the simplicity and truth of the gospel. 

. The catastrophe of the fall, was, therefore, not only an evil of 
infinite moral enormity, but still further calamitous, as by it man 
was plunged in a returnless abyss of iniquity and woe. 

We have seen, that when Adam sinned there were two distinct 
elements inseparably identified in the action, — the apostasy of 
§9. The crime his heart and nature from God; and, as an imme- 
one > diate and necessary consequence of this, the overt 

act of transgression. Again, involved as essential and insepa- 
rable elements in the apostasy, were the two constituents already 
pointed out, — the departure from original righteousness, and the 
corruption of man's nature. Original righteousness was lost, 
not by an active interposition of God, taking it from the apostate 
pair; but by virtue of the fact, that the embrace of sin was of 
itself the casting off of righteousness. To say that man apos- 
tatized, is, in other words, to say, that he made himself unright- 
eous. By the act, he abandoned the attitude of conformity to 
the law, and assumed that of alienation. The second incident 
in the apostasy, was the insurrection of the powers of Adam's 
soul against God, and the assumption of an attitude of enmity 
toward him. Not as though this was a consequence following 
after the transgression, and springing out of it. But the apos- 
tasy itself was the assuming of a depraved attitude, — the em- 
brace of corruption; and the depravity of his subsequent life 
was nothing but the apostasy perpetuated : — its turpitude is that 
of the very apostasy itself. The point which is here of import- 
ance, is, that the loss of original righteousness, and the corrup- 
tion of nature, are not only one and the same thing, viewed 
under two different aspects, but that they are the very soul and 
essence of the apostasy itself, — things without which it could 
not exist, — which could have had no existence except by the 
apostasy, — and which, as long as they continue, are neither more 
nor less than the first sin perpetuated. Hence the great pro- 



528 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xvii. 

priety of that designation, by which Augustine, and after him 
the entire church of God, is accustomed to call these incidents 
of the first transgression, — the original sin. Now, original sin 
is not one thing in Adam, and another in his posterity; but it 
is, in him, and in them, one and the same thing. The apostasy 
is one, in all men. In all, its incidents are identically the same, 
and inseparable from it. " By one man sin entered into the 
world, and death by sin, and so to all men death passed through 
the one in whom all sinned." 

The conclusions, to which we are led by the whole testimony 
of the Scriptures on the subject, are: — that there is a principle 
, ,« ^ , • inherent in the souls of men, which is hostile to 

<p 10. Conclusion. 

God; — that it originated in the apostasy of our 
first parents from God, and is that apostasy derived from them, 
and abiding in their seed; — that it exerts an absolute control 
over the entire moral character of unrenewed men, ruling their 
affections, and guiding all their actions ; — that hence their affec- 
tions are natively and inveterately averse to God; and their 
actions at variance with his law ; — that this principle is properly 
sin, and is in fact that to which the name principally applies, — 
as being the primary, fundamental and essential sin, which ori- 
ginates all actual transgressions, and imparts to them their 
moral enormity; — that these latter are not so properly called, 
sins, as, — the workings of sin, — the fruits of sin, (Kom. vii. 
5, 8;) that is, of this inherent principle of depravity in the 
heart; — and, that this original sin, — alike as it is the apostasy 
of our nature, in the person of Adam, and persistent alienation, 
or depravity, in our own, — is our crime, is of infinite enormity, 
and, according to the requirements of the holy law, and the de- 
mands of divine justice, involves us under the whole burden of 
the infinite curse of God; whence we are by nature children of 
wrath. 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

PROPAGATION OF ORIGINAL SIN. 

It will not be necessary to go to any length in explaining the 
way in which original sin is propagated from our first parents 
I l. The doc- to their seed. The principles upon which the result 
trine. depends have been sufficiently developed already. 

Our first parents apostatized from God, and depraved them- 
selves. Their posterity were "in their loins, as branches in the 
root,"* — as members in the body; and ; as the deed attached to 
all that was in them, it therefore belongs to us. "We existed, 
and consented and sinned, in our cause, — in the one Adam."f 
The common nature of all was in him. His sin was the apostasy 
from God of this common nature. And, as the nature, thus apos- 
tate and depraved, flows by ordinary descent to the successive 
generations of men, it everywhere verifies its identity by the cor- 
ruption and enmity to God, which it conveys from the first pa- 
rents to all. On this subject the argument is brief and simple, 
and the conclusion unavoidable. That the sin of Adam was a 
depravation of his nature, as well as an act of sin, we have 
demonstrated, and can scarcely be questioned. That there was 
in him any other than the depravity thus originated, no one will 
pretend. We have seen it to be the unanimous and unambiguous 
testimony of the Scriptures, that the sinfulness of his seed is de- 
rived from him. If this be so, then is it one and the same, nu- 
merically, with that which was in him. But, in him its elements 
were two, — to wit : — apostasy, and corruption, — the entrance of 
depravity, and the depravity which entered. Both of these, 
therefore, are elements in that which flows from him to his pos- 

* Westminster Sum of Christian Doctrine, head i. § 3. Confession, ch. vi. $ 3. 
j Van Mastricht, Lib. iv. cap. ii. 24. 

34 529 



530 The Elohim Revealed. [chap, xviii. 

terity. The corruption, which is found in all the race of man, 
is either numerically one and the same, in all the members of 
the race, or it is diverse in them severally. But if it be diverse, 
then each individual has a distinct and several depravity, original 
in and peculiar to him ; and the corruption of the children is not 
derived from their parents, although it be like theirs, and that 
of the whole race. In this case, the doctrine of original sin, — 
of the apostasy and depravation of the race, in Adam, — is repu- 
diated, and the depravity is to be attributed to one of two causes, 
— either the creative power of God, or the personal and several 
apostasy of each individual. On the contrary, if the depravity 
be " conveyed from our first parents unto their posterity by 
natural generation," as our Confession asserts, then it is, and 
continues to be, numerically, one and the same thing in Adam, 
and all the generations to whom it is conveyed from him. By 
a just judgment of God, the sin which our first parents embraced 
was left in possession of the nature which had yielded to its 
power; and, as we receive that nature, it comes not only bur- 
dened with the guilt of its crime, but bound under the depravity 
which then gained dominion. 

Here, it is necessary carefully to distinguish between two 
things which widely differ, although not unfrequently con- 
l 2. sin is founded with each other, — that is, the penal aban- 
sometimes pe- donment of the creature to the bondage of his 
naL already existing corruption, and the penal infusion 

of depravity into one as yet undefiled. 

That, in the former sense, sin may be, and often is, the punish- 
ment of sin, is unquestionable. This it may be in two ways. 
(1.) The sin of one may be the punishment of the sin of another. 
Thus, God says to David, ""Now therefore the sword shall never 
depart from thy house, because thou hast despised me, and hast 
taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife." — 2 Sam. xii. 
10. Hence the crimes and blood which thenceforward charac- 
terized the house of that man of God. So, in Isaiah we read, 
"0 Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand 
is mine indignation. I will send him against a hypocritical na- 
tion, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, 



sect, i.] Propagation of Original Sin. 531 

to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down 
like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither 
doth his heart think so ; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut 
off nations not a few. . . . Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of 
hosts, send among his fat ones leanness ; and under his glory he 
shall kindle a burning like the burning of fire." — Isa. x. 5-7, 16. 
(2.) Again, a person may be penally left to the unrestrained power 
of his own corruptions and sins, because of his love of them. 
Thus Paul declares, that, because men receive not the love of 
the truth, " God shall send them strong delusion, that they should 
believe a lie : that they all might be damned who believed not 
the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." — 2 Thess. ii. 11, 
12. The language of the same apostle, in another place, illus- 
trates his meaning, here: — "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to 
them that are lost : in whom the god of this world hath blinded 
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious 
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto 
them." — 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. If we need any further illustration of 
the meaning of all this, we have it from James: — "Let no man 
say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot 
be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man : but every 
man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and en- 
ticed." — James i. 13, 14. We may, then, lay down as unques- 
tionable these several propositions : — 

1. Neither is God the author or efficient cause of sin, in any 
case; nor does he ever exert his efficiency in arousing sin into 
action, where it already exists. 

2. Such is the constitution of moral agents, that sin cannot 
occur, unless the affections and the whole moral nature yield to 
its embrace. Hence, the very fact of sin existing implies such 
a state of the case as leaves nothing upon which to predicate the 
idea of the sinner's unaided return. By the act of apostasy he 
enslaves himself to the corruptions thus engendered. Hence, 
the natural tendency of the wicked is to a growing intensity of 
enmity against God, and habitually increasing indulgence in pol- 
lution and sin. 

3. So far from God causing or cherishing sin, the reverse is 



532 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap, xviii. 

always the case. This side of hell, his hand is never withdrawn, 
but in every instance exerts a constant restraint, of greater or 
less extent, upon the corruptions of men, — only permitting them 
to have liberty so far as serves to accomplish his own holy de- 
signs. " Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remain- 
der of wrath shalt thou restrain." — Psalm lxxvi. 10. 

4. Sin is not only evil, in that it is pursued with the curse of 
God, but it is evil in itself, though it had never been accursed, 
— the greatest evil in the universe. On the other hand, the 
best blessing which creature can receive, is the favourable pre- 
sence, communion and smiles of his Maker, keeping him from 
sin, and upholding him in holiness. A modified form of the 
same blessing consists in that partial restraint upon the corrup- 
tions of sinners, which has just been mentioned. Hence, one 
element in the curse of the law, and among the most fearful, is 
the abandonment of the wicked by the gracious Creator; — the 
withdrawal of his restraining power and beneficent countenance, 
and surrender of the sinner to the tyranny of his own vile and 
malignant lusts and passions, — for love of which he has rejected 
the truth, rebelled against God and apostatized from holiness. 

5. God does often, in just displeasure, here on earth, thus deal 
both with individuals and communities ; for their rejection of 
his testimony and refusal of his love, leaving them to their own 
delusions and to the snares of Satan. The penal fearfulness of 
such a dispensation consists in three things : — the abandonment 
of the creature by its blessed Creator, who is the fountain of all 
good and blessedness ; the evil of the depravity and sin, the 
dominion of which is thus permitted; and the consequent 
heavier curse which reigning sin heaps up against the day of 
wrath. 

6. In all this, we repeat it, God neither originates, cherishes 
nor excites into action, depravity, which he abhors. On the 
contrary, the very nature of that trait of his administration 
which is here considered implies, as essential to it, the pre-exist- 
ence of sin in the subject of such dealing, — his prior free and 
spontaneous apostasy from God, and choice and embrace of 
corruption and enmity. 



sect, ii.] Propagation of Original Sin. 533 

These principles, duly considered, will greatly assist in at- 
taining to clearness respecting the propagation of original sin. 
In creating man, his Maker so guarded him around that sin and 
consequent misery were impossible unless the whole nature were 
surrendered to the malign and accursed influence. "When man 
apostatized, God, by a dispensation of righteous judgment, left 
the depravity, thus generated, to full possession of the nature. 
He permitted it, unrestrained, to spread, with that nature and 
in it, to each succeeding generation to which the nature flows 
by ordinary descent. Thus, the propagation of original sin, as 
testified by the great body of the Eeformed, is consequent upon 
the just judgment of God; but this, not by a punitive insertion 
of depravity, where it was not already ; but by a penal abandon- 
ment of man to the corruption which he had embraced, — a de- 
clining to purge the already defiled nature and cleanse the 
polluted fountain of the race. And the nature whence all spring- 
being thus left corrupt in the father of all, the depraved result 
was inevitable. " For who can bring a clean thing out of an un- 
clean? Not one." 

The doctrine of Edwards, on the subject of second causes, 
involves him in inextricable difficulties on the whole subject of 
§ 3. Edwards' the origin, propagation and actings of sin. If, as 
doctrine. } ie teaches, God be the immediate and only cause 

of all effects, then, evidently, he is the sole cause of sin, in 
every aspect of it. This conclusion, so fatal to his whole theory, 
Edwards attempts to evade by appeal to the distinction between a 
privative and a positive cause. He says that "to account for a 
sinful corruption of nature, yea, a total native depravity of the 
heart of man, there is not the least need of supposing any evil 
quality infused, implanted or wrought into the nature of man, 
by any positive cause or influence whatsoever, either from God or 
the creature ; or of supposing that man is conceived and born 
with a fountain of evil in his heart such as is any thing properly 
positive. . . . The case with man was plainly this : — When God 
made man at first, he implanted in him two kinds of prin- 
ciples. There was an inferior kind, which may be called 
natural, being the principles of mere human nature, such as 



534 The Elohim Revealed. [chap, xviii. 

self-love, with those natural appetites and passions which belong 
to the nature of man, in which his love to his own liberty, 
honour and pleasure were exercised. These, when alone and 
left to themselves, are what the Scriptures sometimes call flesh. 
Besides these, there were superior principles, that were spiritual, 
holy and divine, summarily comprehended in divine love: 
wherein consisted the spiritual image of God, and man's right- 
eousness and true holiness ; which are called in the Scriptures the 
divine nature. These principles may, in some sense, be called 
supernatural. . . . When man sinned, and broke God's covenant, 
and fell under his curse, these superior principles left his heart, 
for, indeed, God then left him. . . . Therefore, immediately, 
the superior divine principles wholly ceased : so light ceases in 
a room when the candle is withdrawn. And thus man was left 
in a state of darkness, woeful corruption and ruin ; nothing but 
flesh, without spirit. ... It were easy to show how every lust 
and depraved disposition of man's heart would naturally arise 
from this privative original, if here were room for it."* 

Let it be observed that the question is not, whether cor- 
ruption or sin is a physical thing, — a substance, material or im- 
material, inhering in the soul, — but, what is the cause of sin? 
The view developed, by our author, on the whole subject is en- 
tirely inadequate and erroneous. Every creature of God, so far 
forth as it is his creature, is perfectly good. All its attributes 
and functions, and all their normal exercises, are good. Adam 
was not endowed with one set of attributes by which he was 
constituted a man, and another by which he was a holy being. 
Take from him those faculties, in the right exercise of which he 
displayed the image of his spotless Maker, and, in so doing, you 
rob him, not so much of holiness, as of humanity. His right- 
eousness consisted in the right tendency and exercise of his 
moral powers, and his apostasy and corruption was the reverse. 
So, too, in regard to the daily actions of men. The character 
is not determined by the nature or quality, but by the object, of 
the exercises and affections. Hatred itself, however intense, is 

* Edwards on Original Sin, Part iv. ch. 2. 



sect, in.] Propagation of Original Sin. 535 

not sin, unless directed to a wrong object. God and all holy 
beings bate sin with perfect hatred. Love, even, has in itself 
no virtue, except as it is rightly bestowed. The wicked are 
lovers; but "lovers of their own selves," "lovers of pleasure 
more than lovers of God," lovers of sin, and therefore hateful to 
God. Corruption and sin, then, do not proceed from a privative 
cause ; but from the movement of the moral powers in wrong 
directions. Here, evidently, we must recognise a positive force 
which bears the moral powers of man into devious paths, and 
determines him to love sin and hate holiness and the Holy One. 
And shall we admit that the blessed God is, in any form, the 
author of this depravity ? Shall we for one moment tolerate 
the suggestion that, privative or positive, he is its cause ? "Let 
no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God ; for God 
cannot be tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man. 
But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own 
lust and enticed." — James i. 13, 14. 

It will be said, that Edwards asserts expressly, — and truly, if 
the words be taken in a certain sense, — that "only God's with- 
drawing, as it was highly proper and necessary that he should, 
from rebel man, being, as it were, driven away by his abominable 
wickedness, and men's natural principles being left to themselves, 
this is sufficient to account for his becoming intirely corrupt, 
and bent on sinning against God." " Xow, for God so far to have 
the disposal of this affair, as to withhold those influences with- 
out which nature will be corrupt, is not to be the author of sin." 
True indeed ; but of what value are such statements ; when we 
find their author protest, that by nature he means nothing but 
the power of God; and, by the course of nature, "the continued 
immediate efficiency of God" ? In the very next paragraph, — 
with an inconsistency which we are not called upon either to 
explain, or excuse, — he denies that God can be released from the 
charge of being the author of sin, on the ground of a corrupt 
tendency of man's nature, — because "the course of nature is 
nothing without God." As we have already seen, he in terms 
repudiates any defence, which supposes the sinner to have any 
power or efficiency of his own, apart from the immediate agency 



636 The Elohim Revealed. [chap, xviii. 

of God, — any cause to exist but God. Such is the doctrine set 
forth by Edwards, in an entire chapter, devoted formally to the 
solution of the difficulties which he recognised as surrounding 
this subject. — "Chap. II. (Part IV.) Concerning that objection 
against the doctrine of native corruption, that to suppose men 
receive their first existence in sin, is to make Him who is the 
Author of their being, the author of their depravity." 

In fact, the very language used by Edwards to state his doc- 
trine, is a contradiction in terms. A cause is a force of some 
kind, by the positive action of which the contemplated effect is 
produced. And, therefore, to talk of a privative cause, meaning 
thereby the absence of a positive force, is to describe that which 
is no cause, and from which no manner of effect can proceed. 
Further, should we even admit the validity of Edwards' doc- 
trine of a privative cause, yet upon his theory of causation, the 
objection of Whitby applies with overwhelming force: — "In the 
nature of the thing, and in the opinion of philosophers, causa 
deficiens, in rebus necessariis, ad causam efficiens reducenda est. 
In things necessary, the deficient cause must be reduced to the 
efficient." If there be no force in the creature, except the 
power of God, — if nature be nothing but the established order 
of his agency, — it matters not what the form in which the cause 
of sin is stated, whether privative or positive, it is at last but a 
circumlocution for the name of God. He is at best supposed to 
have withheld from the creature powers essential to give its 
actions a holy character ; and at the same time to have com- 
municated to him impulses which of necessity developed the 
opposite result. Thus is God made the author of sin. This 
conclusion, which Edwards tries to evade, is, by Emmons, with 
more courage and consistency, recognised and vindicated, as the 
legitimate consequence flowing from the premises. 

A popular modification of the doctrine of Edwards, with 
respect to the propagation of original sin, comprehends the fol- 
$LPenai P ri- lowing points : — In consequence of Adam's sin, we 
vation theory. are b orn under a penal privation of divine influ- 
ences, and consequent want of original righteousness, or tendency 
to the love and service of God. These, together with temporal 



sect, in.] Propagation of Original Sin. 537 

calamities and death, constitute the entire penalty of original 
sin imputed, considered in itself. The consequence, however, of 
this infliction is, that the soul, which is necessarily active, being 
thus precluded from activity in a right direction, inevitably 
develops tendencies toward evil; and thus, as an effect of the 
penal privation here described, becomes actually depraved. It 
is not until this result has been realized, that we are involved in 
the proper penalty of the law, the curse of eternal death. 

In this theory, there are two or three features which demand 
special notice. The first is, the nature of that penal liability 
which is predicated upon Adam's sin imputed: — "By one man 
sin entered into the world, and death by sin." "We have seen, 
that, in the argument of the apostle, the death thus introduced 
is identified in the clearest manner with that death which is the 
wages of sin, that death which Christ came to take away, — a 
purpose accomplished by him "in that he died unto sin once.'" 
It would seem, therefore, unquestionable that, by the death which 
entered by the sin of Adam, and to which all men are liable, as 
the punishment of that sin, is meant, the whole fearful burden 
of indignation and wrath which sin deserves, from the hand of 
Almighty God. According, however, to this theory, it means no 
positive infliction at all, except such as are temporal; but only 
the loss of divine influence and original righteousness. This 
interpretation is based upon the fact, that the word, death, is 
used to express any and every form of evil, which is inflicted in 
punishment of sin. But the attempt to sustain the position here 
stated, on that ground, is involved in a manifest fallacy. Sin is, 
in the Scriptures, never regarded as any thing less than an infi- 
nite evil. Hence, its punishment is an infinite curse. Finite 
evils are, indeed, recognised by the name of, death ; but only as 
elements and pledges of those which are infinite. The word is 
never used, where God's curse is not implied; and that curse 
admits of no limitation. To say, therefore, that a given dis- 
pensation is a punishment of sin, and yet attempt to limit the 
burden to merely privative and temporal evils, is the grossest of 
contradictions. It is, to assume that the law and justice of God 
can find something less than infinite evil in sin; and be satisfied 



538 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap, xviii. 

for it with something short of utter wrath. It is to suppose 
that the vials of wrath may be opened, and their contents be 
poured out upon the victim; and yet limit their woe to certain 
features in his constitution, and forms of temporal evil. This 
theory is not only thus inconsistent with the doctrine of Paul, 
and the whole teaching of the Scriptures on the subject of sin 
and its punishment. It is involved in helpless inconsistency 
with itself. Assuming, as a fundamental position, that Adam's 
sin is not in us criminal, but only liable to punishment, — and 
denying it to involve the infinite and eternal misery, which is 
the penal sanction of God's law, — the attempt is made to repre- 
sent it as being punished with a lighter infliction than that curse 
which pursues real sin. But the infliction described is really 
far more fearful and to be dreaded, than any amount of mere 
suffering. It defiles the soul, and alienates it from God. 

The means by which this defiling process is carried into effect, 
we have stated. The first step is the withholding of divine in- 
fluence. It is assumed that Adam was at first endowed with a 
divine influence, for his support in integrity; and that, as a 
punishment of his sin, this influence was withdrawn from him 
and us; the immediate effect of which is, our loss of original 
righteousness. It is certain, however, that Adam never had 
such an influence. Its absence is the very thing which is testi- 
fied by the entire Keformed church, when it asserts our first 
parents to have been left to the freedom of their own will, in 
their original estate. They enjoyed God's beneficent care, his 
approving smile, and personal presence and intercourse; and "all 
mankind by their fall lost communion with God." But they did 
not lose a divine influence, upholding them in holiness. They 
never had it. Else they could never have fallen. It is, there- 
fore, an evident mistake, to attribute its absence in us, to the 
penal effects of their sin. 

The second step, in the process of penal depravation, is the 
loss of original righteousness. This loss of righteousness is re- 
presented as not only logically distinguishable from the corrup- 
tion of nature, but separable, and actually separated, from it, in 
its nature, cause and origin. In punishment of Adam's first sin, 



sect, iv.] Propagation of Original Sin. 539 

original righteousness, which, consists in a tendency to the love 
and service of God, is taken away. The soul is ; from its nature, 
necessarily active. The consequence of its being deprived of 
holy tendencies is, that its activity must find some other direc- 
tion. Hence, tendencies to evil; or, actual depravity. Essen- 
tial, here, is the idea that it is possible to predicate the loss of 
righteousness of one cause, and depravity of another. The loss 
of righteousness is attributed to the power of the Creator, in 
the infliction of a judicial sentence. The corruption or depra- 
vity is consequent upon the activity of the soul, operating under 
the limitations induced by the withholding of righteousness. 
The soul, then, may be conceived of as divested of righteousness, 
without being yet actually depraved. Thus we have the scho- 
lastic fancy, of original righteousness being an ornament extrin- 
sic to the nature, as a garland is to a maiden. Not only is it 
conceivable, upon this theory, that the soul may be divested of 
righteousness, without yet being actually depraved; but it is 
assumed, that such is actually the case, at a certain period in 
the history of every individual. In the first instant of exist- 
ence, he is deprived of righteousness. But the depravity is a 
consequence of this, taken in connection with the active nature 
of the soul; which, being precluded from holy tendencies, deve- 
lops those which are depraved. Now, prior to the action of the 
soul, its activity can be no cause : so that depravity is not ori- 
ginal in the soul; but, at the most, is generated by its first 
exercise. 

Eespecting the loss of righteousness, here represented, there 
are some questions, the solution of which is necessary to the 
clearing of the doctrine. Is the withholding of divine influences 
supposed to constitute, in and of itself, a privation of righteous- 
ness ? Or, does it merely give opportunity for the loss of right- 
eousness, in some other way? If the former supposition be 
adopted, our want of righteousness is, by definition, the sole and 
immediate work of God. It is impossible, in this case, that we 
should be, in any way, or to any extent, responsible for it, or 
criminal in it. If the other alternative be adopted, the difficul- 
ties are no less insurmountable. It will then result, that our 



540 The Elohim Revealed. [chap, xviii. 

want of original righteousness does not run parallel with our 
being. It results, in some way, from agencies subsequent to the 
dawn of existence. "We are, then, at first, clothed in it. It will 
be necessary, therefore, to show how it comes to pass that, upon 
the withdrawal of divine influence, man infallibly loses his ori- 
ginal righteousness. Is it by virtue of a necessity — natural, or 
moral? If the former, whence does it arise; and how do we 
come to be criminal in it ? If the latter, what is meant ; if it 
be not that the nature is originally characterized by a tendency 
to sin, — a disposition to cast off righteousness? But such a 
tendency, is depravity, itself; and, thus, original in the soul, 
prior to all activity, is entirely inconsistent with the theory, 
which describes depravity as generated by causes, essential 
among which is the activity of the soul. 

Waiving these difficulties, still others present themselves, re- 
specting the nature and evil of human depravity. Given, — 
man's activity of moral nature; less, — divine influence, and ten- 
dency toward God : — Is this all that is meant by the native de- 
pravity of man? Such is the view which this theory presents. 
If this should be denied, it will be necessary to show how and 
when any other element is or can be introduced; and, particu- 
larly, how the moral turpitude enters into the case. 

However these questions may be answered, one thing is evi- 
dent : — This scheme ignores the doctrine of our sin and fall in 
Adam. It is not pretended to assign to our first parents any 
efficient causation in the matter. At the most, their relation to 
it is constructive, and of legal intendment. Neither are we cri- 
minals in their sin, nor depraved in their apostasy. Not only 
so, but the scheme precludes in us any moral responsibility, or 
criminality, in the depravation which it does describe. Pro- 
ceeding as does that depravation from causes, — the want of 
righteousness, and the activity of the soul, — both of which are 
immediately from God, and in no wise from us, their immediate 
and necessary effect cannot be our crime. 

In fact, the necessary result of this theory, in whatever light 
it is viewed, is, to induce the denial or palliation of the enormity 
and wickedness of native depravity. This results not only from 



sect, iv.] Propagation of Original Sin. 541 

the logical structure of the theory as already examined, but from 
the principles of interpretation which it renders necessary in the 
exposition of Paul's argument. It is necessary, either to abandon, 
altogether, the idea of our sustaining any penal responsibility for 
Adam's sin, — to deny our original depravity to be in itself sinful 
and deserving God's infinite wrath and curse, — or, to admit 
Adam's apostasy to be truly our sin. Paul reasons from the 
universality of death to a universal condemnation on account 
of violated law. Now, if the original principle of depravity, 
which is in men by nature, be truly sin, contrary to the holy 
law, and a just and sufficient ground of condemnation and death, 
then evidently it would be absurd to attribute universal death 
to a merely constructive sin which is not a crime. Further, 
the sin of which the apostle speaks is continuous, from Adam's 
transgression, to all after time. It is described by him, not as 
a plurality, but a unit ; not transient, but abiding ; numerically 
one and the same which entered by Adam, and flowed through 
him to all. Now, to admit native corruption to be truly our 
sin, of itself deserving Grod's wrath and curse, involves several 
conclusions which are entirely at variance with the whole scheme 
here considered. It implies that it was our sin in its origin in 
Adam, as well as in its continuance and activity in our own 
persons. For it would evidently be absurd to suppose that, 
which in Adam was only our constructive crime, to be trans- 
mitted and become a principle of real depravity in us ; and this 
the more, as Paul, in both cases, designates it by the one name, 
and attributes to it one turpitude, condemnation and death. If, 
then, native corruption be truly sin, deserving the full punish- 
ment of sin, it follows that we truly sinned in Adam; from 
whence, according to Paul, that corruption flows. All this, 
again, implies a real and substantial oneness of nature in the 
race, — such a unity in Adam as to constitute a medium for the 
transfusion to all of that one sin which, in its origin in his per- 
son, was the apostasy and depravation of all, and so the ground 
of their just condemnation. 

How entirely all this is inconsistent with the penal privation 
theory, we need not insist. Denying any real oneness of the 



542 The Elohim Revealed, [chap, xviii. 

race in Adam, — any transfer of the turpitude, or communion 
in the crime, of his sin, — denying the numerical oneness of the 
depravity which is in us with the sin which originated in Adam, 
— it is necessary to deny that our native position, as respects 
inherent corruption, is sufficient to justify a sentence of death 
against all. The admission of this would leave no place for the 
doctrine of Paul, that the sin of Adam is the ground of the 
condemnation and death which have passed upon all. In fact, — 
we repeat it, — the alternatives are, to assume the apostle to have 
reasoned incorrectly in attempting to prove the condemnation 
of all, in Adam, from the infliction of death upon all, — to deny 
native indwelling sin to deserve and involve the penalty of 
eternal death, — or, to recognise the sin to be one, in its entrance 
and continuance, in Adam and us ; and its criminality one and 
inseparable, from either aspect of it, attaching as much to our 
apostasy in Adam as to our realized personal depravity. If 
Adam's is not our real sin, and depravity in us deserves the 
curse of God, it is preposterous to try to evade the conclusion 
that the death of all is the punishment, not of Adam's trans- 
gression, but of indwelling sin ; and nothing else. 

It is a fatal objection to this theory of the penal superinducing 
of depravity, that it has no place in the Scriptures. The reader 
will search in vain throughout the sacred volume for an intima- 
tion that, in any case, or under any circumstances, corruption or 
sin is originated where it did not before exist by a penal dispen- 
sation, or in any way other than by an apostasy which is cri- 
minal in the subject of the depravation. In particular, do we 
never find the corruption of the race of Adam described as a 
punitive infliction ; or, in fact, in any way a penal thing. Always 
is it there spoken of as a criminal characteristic, existing in us 
by virtue of our inbeing and apostasy in Adam. 

Further, this doctrine, if true, renders the salvation of sinners, 
even by the death of Christ, forever impossible. According to 
it, an element of the punishment of sin, as inflicted by the law 
and justice of God, is the depravation of the victims, — the origi- 
nation of sin, by a penal process, in the children of Adam. Now, 
it is certain, that whatever the Son of God endured, he did not, 



sect, iv.] Propagation of Original Sin. 543 

lie could not, sin ; or become depraved. He is, and ever was and 
will be, the Holy One. If, then, the law inflicts such a penalty 
as this, Christ has not satisfied the law, and its unexhausted 
curse still remains against every child of Adam, and must for- 
ever remain. 

Inconsistent as is this theory with the plan of grace as revealed 
in the Scriptures, it is equally at variance with the unanimous 
testimony of the Reformed confessions. It is the harmonious 
doctrine of the Eeformed churches, that Adam was the root of 
the human family, in whom, as parts of him, as branches, or 
members, all his posterity were so identified that his sin was, 
not only his own crime, but theirs also. " They sinned in him." 
And, as several and personal existence is derived by them, as 
individuals, out of the common nature which sinned, they, accord- 
ing to those confessions, receive, by their natural generation, both 
the guiltiness of this sin, its turpitude, and the depravity which 
it generated. The doctrine of these standards on this subject 
has been sufficiently illustrated in our introductory chapter. 

The theory which we have here examined involves a deficient 
estimate of the diverse points of light from which sin is to be 
§ 5 . Gondii- viewed. The inception, and the continuance, of 
*«>»■ apostasy, or sin, although logically distinguishable, 

are yet but aspects of one and the same thing, — so absolutely 
inseparable, that it is impossible either should exist, or be con- 
ceived to exist, without the other. Again, viewed as a real prin- 
ciple existent in the soul, and as an active influence operating 
in the life, sin still is but the same thing, seen in different lights. 
Originated by the apostasy of Adam, and continuous in him and 
his seed, — quiescent, though too truly existent, in infants, and 
active in adults, in the generation of actual transgressions, — its 
identity is unbroken, as it flows from Adam to the latest of his 
sons. Its criminality is one and infinite, and its penalty one, — 
the infinite wrath and curse of God. In the argument of Paul 
to the Romans, it is presented in all these lights, in turn. In 
the twelfth verse of the fifth chapter we have its origin, — not 
that of Adam's personal apostasy, but of whatever in us may be 
bo designated. Not only Adam, but "all sinned," and aposta- 



544 The Elolum Revealed. [chap, xviii. 

tized from God, — not in act only, but in the attitude of the na- 
ture, in the inmost powers of the soul. In the thirteenth and 
fourteenth verses it is exhibited as existent in the generations 
who flowed from Adam, the apostate head, — innate but latent 
in infants, and active and revealed as sin in adults, and in all 
condemned by justice and accursed by God. In the twentieth 
and twenty-first verses, and throughout the sixth and seventh 
chapters, it is viewed as an active principle, working transgres- 
sion. In all, it is one enormous sin, — "the sin of the world," — 
deserving, and, but for the redeeming grace of Christ, receiving, 
the infinite curse of God. This curse is just as fully incurred, 
and, but for grace, as infallibly inflicted, where sin has never 
grown to active transgression, as, where the vine of Sodom has 
fully proved its identity by the abundant clusters of Gomorrah 
which weigh down its branches. 

How strangely contrasted with this is the theory before us ! 
Its first feature is a sin, which is no crime, but a mere condition 
of being regarded and treated as sinners, — a regarding which 
does not mean that they are in fact looked upon and regarded 
by God as real sinners, and a treatment which does not consist 
in visiting them with the proper penalty of real sin; but some- 
thing altogether different. Its second characteristic is a guilt 
which is devoid of sinfulness, — which does not imply moral de- 
merit or turpitude. Then follows a punishment, which consists 
not in the penalty of the law, nor necessarily in the active inflic- 
tion of any thing, but merely the withholding of an influence 
for man's retention in uprightness, — an influence which Adam 
never enjoyed, when in the highest favour with God, — the with- 
holding of which leaves man no alternative; but, if active at all, 
— and such he must be, for such God has made him, — he must 
be active in sin ! Only when sin has thus been wrought, does 
this theory recognise a turpitude, which is real crime, in such 
sense as to deserve the full meed of God's wrath and curse. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

THE ETERNAL COVENANT. 

Bound every heart ; and every bosom, burn ! 
what a scale of miracles is here ! 
Its lowest round high planted on the skies, 
Its towering summit lost beyond the thought 
Of man or angel. — Young. 

Thus have we traced the dark features of man's wicked 
apostasy from holiness and God. In his creation, crowned with 
a 1 The curse a gl 0I 7> honour and dignity which constituted him 
on man is a becoming image of the Creator, in presence of 
stayed. God's universe ; enthroned in dominion over earth 

and every living thing; endowed with every requisite to the 
highest and perfect happiness here, and with the promise of 
infinite blessedness, in eternal life, on condition of obedience; 
he yet contemned the present favours of a beneficent God, and 
rejected his covenant of peace. He turned his back upon 
that throne of radiant light whence shone upon him unmixed 
goodness and love; before which the seraphim of glory, in 
veiled prostration, rejoice to adore. He plucked the forbidden 
fruit, violated the seal of God's loving and rightful sovereignty, 
and set his hand to the covenant of Jehovah's curse. His 
nature and his race he thus plunged in a guilt and ruin, alike 
fearful in extent and enormity of moral evil and crime and 
dark in the shadows of a hopeless misery and despair. Death 
entered the world, and passed to all men. The curse swooped 
down to claim and seize its rightful victims. The law and 
justice of God concurred to denounce an infinite woe against 
the impious, whose puny arms had lifted up defiance against the 
power of God, and whose hearts returned contempt and hate to 
his goodness and holiness. Confident in the success of his 
malignant arts against our race, Satan exulted in the imagined 

35 545 



546 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

disappointment of God's designs of love to man. Secure of its 
victims, hell from beneath was moved to meet them at their 
coming ; and the fallen angels, for whom it was ordained, ex- 
pected new companions in the woe of their undying anguish and 
deepening despair. All heaven stood in silent awe and expecta- 
tion. The adoring throng of blessed spirits looked to see an 
indignation and vengeance revealed which should be adequate 
satisfaction for such sin. 

Yet no clouds of darkness gathered about the throne. No 
wrathful thunders uttered their curses, nor liffhtnings of vensce- 
ance flamed against the guilty. But the light of God's infinite 
compassion and eternal love illumed the world, and salvation 
from sin and the curse was provided for man by the wisdom and 
goodness of his insulted God. The hour of man's utmost need, 
when trembling he fled from the presence of his Maker, was the 
chosen time of God's revelation of grace. He, who expected 
nothing but wrath, is greeted with assurances of love, and hears 
the promise of redemption from ruin, and restoration to a 
higher dignity and richer privilege and favour than that so 
wickedly lost. The penal requirements of the law shall be 
obeyed. Justice shall be fully enforced. The curse shall be 
satisfied. God's holiness, which abhors sin, and his righteous- 
ness, which punishes it, shall be maintained. Every attribute 
of God's nature shall be revealed in untarnished radiance and 
infinite growing glory. But lost and hell-deserving man shall 
be saved. God shall be just, and the justifier of the ungodly. 
Mercy and truth shall meet together ; righteousness and peace 
shall kiss each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth ; and 
righteousness shall look down from heaven. The woman's 
seed shall bruise the head of the serpent, and the Son of 
man thwart all the wiles of Satan. A Captain of salvation 
shall arise, whose conquering arms shall recover our revolted 
world to the allegiance of God; and cause the schemes of the 
enemy to recoil upon his own head, in a storm of devouring 
indignation. By the arm of the second Adam shall the de- 
stroyer of the first be overthrown in utter discomfiture and 
eternal shame. He who made man as the crown of the crea- 



sect, i.] The Eternal Covenant 547 

tion and image of himself, is not taken by surprise, nor disap- 
pointed in his purposes of kindness to our race, by the successful 
treachery of Satan. On the contrary, man's ruin is the very 
occasion awaited by Omniscience, for unfolding to his creatures 
the mystery of his boundless wisdom, and the riches of his grace. 

" The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— God 
Devised the wondrous plan ; — devised, achieved ; 
And, in achieving, made the marvel more. 

God was made flesh, 

And dwelt with man on earth ! The Son of God, 

Only-begotten, and well beloved, between 

Men and his Father's justice interposed; 

Put human nature on : His wrath sustained ; 

And in their name suffered, obeyed and died, 

Making his soul an offering for sin ; 

Just for unjust, and innocence for guilt." — Pollok. 

All of which we have heretofore spoken, — the creation of 
man in the image of God, — his endowment with glory, dominion 
and blessedness, — the law which was laid upon him, and the 
covenant which was given him, the permission of the tempta- 
tion and of the fall and ruin of the race, — all were but so many i 
steps toward the accomplishment of a scheme of infinite wisdom 
and love, borne forward by the energies of infinite power, for 
the revelation of the glorious attributes of the Author. But 
this wonderful scheme was not merely a plan devised by the 
divine wisdom, and accomplished by the divine will and power. 
Its elements were the provisions of an eternal covenant, which 
was ineffably made, between the persons of the Godhead. Of 
that covenant, the Father was the author. The parties to the 
contract were the Father and the Son ; and the Spirit was wit- 
ness. Its seal was the tremendous oath of Jehovah ; its date, 
God's own eternity, before the foundation of the world ; and its 
terms comprehended the whole order of providence concerning 
all the creatures. All of these were made by and for Him who 
is, by the covenant, enthroned Head over all. But the especial 
object of the whole transaction was the provision of salvation 
for fallen man ; and, by this means, the revelation, to all crea- 



i 



548 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

tures, of the riches of God's infinite wisdom, power, holiness, 
justice, and glorious grace. 

The first announcement of this covenant was addressed to the 
serpent, but in the hearing and for the comfort of the apostate 
g 2. History of and convicted parents of our race. " The Lord God 
the promise. sa j(j un t ^ e ser p e nt, Because thou hast done this, 
thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field : 
upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the 
days of thy life : and I will put enmity between thee and the 
woman, and between thy seed and her Seed ; It shall bruise thy 
head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." — Gen. iii. 14, 15. Thus, 
the curse glanced upon the serpent, the instrument of the seduc- 
tion, and fell with gathering fearfulness upon the head of Satan, 
its author. To arrest his impious and malignant exultation, he 
is assured that not only is he henceforth doubly accursed, but 
his plots against man and God will all be turned to utter con- 
tempt ; — that the Seed of the very woman, over whom he ima- 
gined so easy a triumph, shall amply avenge her wrong, and, if 
with bruised heel, yet with triumphant might, crush the head 
,of her enemy, and redeem her from the ruin which he had de- 
vised. 

If the announcement of the coming Seed was confusion to the 
seducer, it was the day spring from on high to the fallen pair. 
It assured them not simply of respite from the curse, but of tri- 
umph over it. It proclaimed life to the dead ; and, in token of 
the faith which laid hold of the precious promise, Adam called 
his wife Eve, — that is, Life, — " because she was the mother of 
all living," — Gen. iii. 20; as being the mother, both, of that pro- 
mised Son, to whom it was given to have life in himself, who 
hath abolished death; and also, of those to whom he shall give 
eternal life. In confirmation of this faith, and pledge of its 
acceptance, Adam was taught to offer sacrifices of blood ; and, 
as the sacrificial animals expired, and the smoke of their burn- 
ing rose from off the altar, and God's own hand clothed the re- 
pentant worshippers with the skins of the sacrifices, they, in a 
figure, saw the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, — 
a vicarious atonement for their sins, and his righteousness an 






sect, i.] The Eternal Covenant 549 

abundant covering for their nakedness. We have in another 
place alluded to the language of Eve upon occasion of the birth 
of Cain, — language which seems plainly to have reference to that 
" second man, the Lord from heaven," by whom the serpent was 
to be destroyed: — "I have gotten the man, Jehovah." — Gen. 
iv. 1. The fact that Cain was not the Messiah, is not in the 
least inconsistent with the supposition that such was the imagi- 
nation of Eve ; and the care used by the Spirit of God to recover 
and put upon record, by the hand of Moses, this expression of 
Eve, in the brief narrative which sketches the history of seven- 
teen hundred years in two short chapters, seems entirely incon- 
sistent with the idea that it meant no more than to recognise 
the fact that " children are an heritage of the Lord." 

As the plan of God, so the revelation of it is carried on in a 
process of gradual development. The promise made in the gar- 
den, and the light shed upon it by the sacrificial symbol, consti- 
tuted the sum of the gospel, as preached by Enoch and Noah, 
and believed by the people of God, during the twenty centuries 
which intervened from the fall to the calling of Abraham. To 
him God had said, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy 
kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will 
show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will 
bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a bless- 
ing : and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that 
curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be 
blessed." — Gen. xii. 1-3. Afterward, the promises thus made 
were confirmed to the patriarch in a solemn covenant, sealed by 
a new name and the rite of circumcision: — "When Abram was 
ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said 
unto him, I am the Almighty God : walk before me, and be thou 
perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, 
and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his 
face : and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my 
covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many na- 
tions. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but 
thy name shall be Abraham, (father of a multitude,) for a father 
of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceed- 



550 TJie Elohim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

ing fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall 
come out of thee. And I will establish, my covenant between 
me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for 
an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed 
after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after 
thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Ca- 
naan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 
And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant, 
therefore, thou and thy seed after thee, in their generations. 
This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you, 
and thy seed after thee : Every man-child among you shall be 
circumcised." — Gen. xvii. 1-10. 

Thus was the gospel preached to Abraham by God himself; 
and the promise upon which faith had previously rested was 
confirmed and established by a solemn covenant, ratified and 
sealed. Nor did the condescending kindness and love of God 
pause here. Having made experiment of the faith of Abraham, 
by the requirement that he should sacrifice his son, and having 
enabled the patriarch to come forth from the fiery trial un- 
scathed, God adds his oath to establish the abundant grace of 
the covenant : — " And the Angel of the Lord called unto Abra- 
ham out of heaven, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the 
Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not with- 
held thy son, thine only son : that in blessing I will bless thee, 
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the 
heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore ; and thy 
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies ; and in thy seed shall 
all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed 
my voice." — Gen. xxii. 15-18. 

Thus, " God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs 
of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an 
oath ; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible 
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have 
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." — Heb. 
vi. 17, 18. How fully Abraham was informed, as to the whole 
extent and significance of this transaction, we have no means of 
knowing. Our Saviour assures the Jews, " Your father Abra- 



sect, ii.] The Eternal Covenant. 551 

ham rejoiced to see my day : and he saw it, and was glad." — John 
viii. 56. In fact, the covenant with Abraham was a literal tran- 
script from that between the Father and Son ; and it is only by 
viewing it in this light, that we can form any just conceptions 
respecting it. Of this fact the evidence is conclusive. Thus, 
Paul declares that, "to Abraham and his Seed were the pro- 
mises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many ; but as of 
one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ. . . . Wherefore then serveth 
the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed 
should come to whom the promise was made." — Gal. iii. 16, 19. 
Thus is it evident that the Abrahamic covenant was entered into 
with the Seed, Christ, rather than with Abraham himself. To 
the Seed the promise was made. 

The next signal step in the revelation of the covenant, is re- 
corded in the seventh chapter of 2 Samuel, and the seventeenth 
I 3. The co- of 1 Chronicles. David, having finished his wars, 
venant icith an d being at rest from all enemies, proposed to build 
a temple to God. Upon this occasion, the prophet 
Nathan was sent, to forbid the enterprise,— to tell him that he 
did well that it was in his heart, (1 Kings viii. 18 ;) yet not he, 
but his son, should build it. "When thy days be fulfilled, and 
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after 
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish 
his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will 
stablish the throne of his kingdom forever. . . . And thine house 
and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee : thy 
throne shall be established forever." — 2 Sam. vii. 12-16. That 
this promise had an immediate respect to Solomon, and the 
temple builded at Jerusalem by him, is no doubt true. But, 
that "a greater than Solomon is here," is certain. And, that 
David so understood the matter, is equally clear. Upon receiv- 
ing the communication, he went in and sat before the Lord, 
"and he said, Who am I, Lord God? and what is my house, 
that thou hast brought me hitherto ? And this was yet a small 
thing in thy sight, Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of 
thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the 
manner of man, Lord God?" — 2 Sam. vii. 18, 19. Dr. Kenni- 



552 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xix. 

cott remarks of this address, that it is "just such as one might 
naturally expect, from a person overwhelmed with the greatness 
of the promised blessing. It is abrupt, full of wonder, and 
fraught with repetitions." The words rendered, "And is this 
the manner of man, Lord God," are not, according to the same 
learned author, sufficiently, or even accurately, translated. Their 
meaning, as he expresses it, is: "And this is (or, must be) the 
manner of the Man (or, of the Adam)." Bishop Horsley 
adopts the leading idea of Dr. Kennicott, but departs a little 
from his translation. He renders the passage thus: — "And this 
is the arrangement about the Man, Lord Jehovah!'" The 
words, he says, are exactly parallel with 1 Chron. xvii. 17, which 
he translates thus : — "And thou hast regarded me in the arrange- 
ment about the Man that is to be from above, Lord Jehovah." 
Sebastian Schmidt translates the words in the latter place, "et 
respexisti me juxta rationem hominis illius celsissimi." This, 
however, seems not to give accurately the sense of nSrrsn which, 
as stated by Dr. Kennicott, signifies, subsequence, as to time, 
and, from above, as to place.* Both of these ideas are combined 
by Paul, in 1 Cor. xv. 47: — "The first man is of the earth, 
earthy ; the second man is the Lord from heaven." Similar is 
the idea of John the Baptist: — "He that cometh from above 
is above all : he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of 
the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all." — John iii. 
31. Luther translates 2 Sam. vii. 19, — "And this is the way of 
a man who is God the Lord." That "the Adam," of whom 
David in these places speaks, is the Lord Jesus Christ, is mani- 
fest; and that upon this occasion the Spirit of inspiration im- 
parted to David a knowledge of the manner of the second Adam, 
of the covenant by which he was ordained to take the place of 
the first, and of the glory and dominion with which he was to 
be crowned, is evident, from the tenor of the Messianic Psalms, 
in which the theme is celebrated, f In fact, the testimony of 
Peter, on the day of Pentecost, is, of itself, conclusive on this 
point. Citing the language of David in the sixteenth Psalm, — 

* See Theological and Literary Journal, 1858, p. 209. 

| Consult Psalms ii, viii, xvi, xxi, xxii, xl, xlv, lxix, lxxii, lxxxix, ex. 






sect, in.] The Eternal Covenant. 553 

"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer 
thine Holy One to see corruption," — he tells the multitude, that 
this cannot be meant of David himself; since "he is both dead 
and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. There- 
fore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an 
oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, 
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he, seeing this 
before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not 
left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." — Acts ii. 27-31. 
From the time of this promise to David, the doctrine of the 
eternal covenant has ever constituted a fundamental article in 
1 4. The eter- the faith of the church; and the salvation, kingdom 
nai covenant. an d glory therein secured, has been the great end 
of all her labours, and consummation of her hopes. It is the 
key-note to the loftiest strains which are found in the book of 
the Psalms; and the theme in respect to which the prophets 
"inquired and searched diligently, . . . searching what, or what 
manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did sig- 
nify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and 
the glory that should follow." — 1 Peter i. 10, 11. Whatever 
shadows, however, rested on their minds, and whatever mysteries 
remained hidden from their understandings, the whole subject 
now stands revealed to us, in the clearer light of fulfilment, and 
of the inspired interpretations which the New Testament fur- 
nishes to the revelations of the Old. We are thus permitted to 
contemplate a scene, in beholding which, we are called to put 
off our shoes, in adoring reverence and awe. The place where 
we stand is holy. It is the presence-chamber of God, the council- 
room of the blessed Three. Satan has rebelled against the 
sovereignty, and defied the power, of the omnipotent One. 
Especially has his impious treason arrayed itself against that 
eternal Son, by whom are all things, and for whom are all things, 
who is the Mediator, by whom alone has God ever revealed him- 
self to creature. Man, in mad impiety, has joined in the trea- 
son. The nations rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing. 
The kings take their stand, and the princes consult together, 
against Jehovah and his Anointed. "Let us break their bands 



554 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

in sunder," say they, "and cast away their cords from us.'' 
Proud boast, but imbecile! He that sitteth in the heavens 
laughs. The Lord has them in derision. Whilst his enemies 
are conspiring, the decree goes forth, "Yet have I set my King 
upon my holy hill of Zion." — Psalm ii. 6. "And to the Son he 
saith, Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever : a sceptre of right- 
eousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved right- 
eousness and hated iniquity ; therefore God, even thy God, hath 
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." — Heb. 
i. 8, 9. "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies 
thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out 
of Zion : rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people 
shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holi- 
ness from the womb of the morning : thou hast the dew of thy 
youth. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a 
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." — Psalm ex. 1-4. 
The response of the Son is given in the fortieth Psalm: — "Lo, I 
come : in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight 
to do thy will, my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." — 
Psalm xl. 7, 8. 

From the exposition given in the epistle to the Hebrews, we 
learn that the oath, by which Christ was ordained a priest after 
the order of Melchizedek, comprehends in its terms the whole 
sum of the covenant of grace. We will take it, therefore, as our 
centre of observation in tracing some of the particulars of that 
transaction. Of the importance of the doctrine of the covenant 
here announced, it is scarcely possible to speak in terms of ex- 
aggeration. In the fact of the formation of such a compact, — 
in the parties between whom it was made, the provisions therein 
contained, the oath by which it is confirmed, and the Witness 
by whom attested, — in the revelation of it to man, and in its exe- 
cution, as a scheme of grace to man and glory to God, — the Per- 
sons of the Godhead are revealed, in the unity of their essence, 
the severalty of their subsistence, the peculiarity of their several 
mode of agency, and the relations subsisting between them, with 
an evidence and clearness no otherwise attainable. On this 
subject, the following are some of the most important points, 






sect, iv.] The Eternal Covenant. 555 

which, will be illustrated in the unfolding and fulfilment of the 
covenant. 

1. As the fact of the forming of such a covenant attests the 
existence of distinct and peculiar relations between a plurality 
of subsistences in the divine nature, so ; the announcement of such 
a covenant is designed to call our attention to those relations. 

2. The relations thus made known to us are of two kinds, 
— natural and moral. Of the natural relations, consisting in 
the subsistence of the three Persons in one God, and the mode 
of that subsistence, as expressed in terms of generation and 
spiration, we have already spoken particularly. 

3. The moral relations of the Persons of the Godhead to each 
other are held up, in the covenant, in a very signal light. In 
it, the eternal Father is revealed in the act of binding himself 
to his co-equal Son by a solemn oath, by which he appeals to his 
own infinite holiness in assurance of his truth: — "Once have I 
sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David." In it, 
the Son pledges his righteousness to the fulfilment of terms upon 
which the destinies of heaven, earth and hell are suspended. In 
it, the Spirit stands co-party and witness, "because the Spirit is 
truth." In it, each Person is revealed concurring, in infinite 
harmony, mutual confidence and love, to the completion of a 
scheme of matchless wisdom and goodness, for the display of their 
essential and unsearchable perfections; which, toward man, as- 
sume the guise of grace, mercy and peace, righteousness and truth. 

4. The attributes, for the revelation of which such provision 
is made, are those which, as we have formerly seen, constitute 
the standard of moral excellence in the creatures. Conformity 
with them is the principle of all moral obligation and duty, to 
angels and men. As such, they are made known through the 
covenant ; and, as such, set forth in the law ; a fact which, in a 
very emphatic manner, proclaims them to us as the subject of 
God's infinite complacence, and matter of his highest glory. 
Thus are they commended to us as the theme of our most assidu- 
ous study and exalted praise. 

The Author of this scheme is God the Father. "The Lord 
hath sworn." So, in the second Psalm, v. 7 : — " Thou art my 



556 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

Son ; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me." This corre- 
§ 5. The par- sponds with all the testimonies of the Scriptures on 
ties and terms, the subject. So it is in all the Messianic Psalms. 
So it is everywhere testified in the New Testament. Jesus tells 
Nicodemus that " God so loved the world that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life." — John iii. 16. Again, in John vi. 38 
he says, " I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, 
but the will of him that sent me;" and, when he had accom- 
plished his mission, he says to the Father, " I have finished the 
work which thou gavest me to do." — John xvii. 4. John writes, 
" We have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to 
be the Saviour of the world." — 1 John iv. 14. We might mul- 
tiply testimonies to this point, were it necessary. That it is of 
importance, Paul assures us. Speaking of Christ's priesthood, 
he says, " No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that 
is called of God, as was Aaron. So, also, Christ glorified not 
himself to be made an high priest ; but he that said unto him, 
Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee. As he saith 
also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order 
of Melchizedek." — Heb. v. 4-6. Thus, the work of Christ, in 
all its parts and relations, originated with the Father. It con- 
stitutes a manifestation of the boundless love and compassion, 
the condescending grace, the infinite wisdom, and the holiness, 
justice and truth, of the Father. He that hath seen the Son, 
hath seen the Father. 

It is to the Son, as divine, as the second Person of the Trinity, 
that the oath is addressed. Thus, Paul tells the Hebrews, " To 
the Son he saith, Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever, a 
sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." — Heb. 
i. 8. This quotation by Paul from the forty-fifth Psalm, doubly 
proves our point; — as Paul testifies that it is to the Son, as such, 
that the address is made ; and, as the express language of God 
himself in the Psalm declares, that he who is addressed, and to 
whom the throne of David is given, and the covenant of David 
established, is God : — " I speak of the things which I have made 
touching the King. . . . Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever." 



sect, v.] The Eternal Covenant 557 

So the oath contained in our text is addressed by one divine 
Person to another : — " The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at 
my right hand." In fact, the very nature of the case renders 
it impossible that it should have been otherwise than as God 
that the Son was addressed and became a party to the covenant ; 
since it was by virtue of its provisions that he became man. 
But for it he would never have clothed his majesty in our flesh. 

The terms of the covenant consisted of two parts. These 
were, — a work to be done by the Son of God; and, — a reward 
to be enjoyed, in compensation for that work. Both of these 
are specified by our Saviour, in his prayer to the Father, in John 
xvii. 1, 4, 5: — "Father, the hour is come: glorify thy Son; that 
thy Son also may glorify thee. ... I have glorified thee on the 
earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 
And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with 
the glory which I had with thee before the world was." 

The word of the oath, in the Psalm, briefly, but fully, sets 
forth all the terms of the covenant. "This Melchizedek," says 
Paul, "king of Salem, priest of the most high God; . . . first being 
by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king 
of Salem, which is king of peace ; without father, without mother, 
without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of 
life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest con- 
tinually." — Heb. vii. 1-3. The provisions were these: — That, 
as Priest, Christ should take to himself a body and soul, of the 
nature of man ; honour, by a perfect obedience, that holy law, 
which the first Adam dishonoured by 'transgression ; fulfil the 
terms of that covenant of life, which Adam broke; and offer 
himself a sacrifice on the altar of God's justice; enduring, in the 
place of his people, the curse, which they had incurred; — that, 
as King of Eighteousness, he should pursue with his avenging 
sword, and utterly subdue and destroy, Satan and his followers, 
— all his and the Father's enemies ; — and that, as King of Peace, 
he should subdue to himself the hearts of a chosen people; 
rescue them from the power of Satan and sin ; and of them, as 
goodly stones, build a spiritual house, to stand forever, — a temple 
to the glory of the Father, in the presence of all creatures. 



558 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

The conditions, which were pledged to the Son by the Father, 
had respect to his own person, to his people and to his enemies. 
To his person was promised, the formation of a sinless human- 
ity, to serve as a fitting temple for the incarnation of his God- 
head, and the shedding abroad of its glories, — the bestowal upon 
his mediatorial person, of the indwelling fulness of the personal 
presence of the Holy Spirit, to be possessed by him as his Spirit, 
and employed by him in the fulfilment of the purposes of the 
covenant; and, — the gift to him, as Mediator, of honour, glory 
and dominion over all creatures in heaven and earth. It was 
provided, that, in honour of his condescension, in stooping to 
assume the nature of man, the manhood thus assumed should 
occupy the throne of heaven ; and, in the presence of all the in- 
telligences of the universe, possess eternal blessedness, dominion 
and glory, — and that to him as thus enthroned, God-man, Me- 
diator, every knee should bow and every tongue should swear. 
The conditions respecting the people of Christ embraced their 
acceptance and justification, as righteous in him, — their recog- 
nition, adoption and investiture, as in him sons of God, — the 
bestowal upon them of eternal life, — and the enjoyment by them 
of a joint inheritance with Christ, iD his kingdom, glory and 
blessedness forever. As respects his enemies, the covenant se- 
cured the Son complete triumph over them, and glory in them, 
in their destruction. 

As the great end of this entire scheme was the display of the 
divine glory ; and the salvation of the elect of God was the great 
instrumentality, designed to that end; so, provision was made 
therein for the performance, by each Person of the Godhead, of 
parts severally appropriate, and suited to the revelation of the 
relations subsisting between the several Persons of the blessed 
Trinity. Briefly, on this point, — the functions assigned to the 
Father in the covenant of redemption, were the justification, in 
Christ, of his people, — their adoption, as, in him, sons of God, 
— and their final investiture with the heavenly inheritance. 
The functions of the Son were, atonement for them to justice, — 
mediation between them and God, — and the exercise over them 
of a sovereignty, in which his sceptre alike subdues them to 






sect, v.] The Eternal Covenant 559 

himself, and protects them for himself. To the Holy Spirit, 
were assigned the offices of regenerating the redeemed, — of 
sanctifying them, — of raising them up at the last day, body and 
soul alike perfected in holiness and fitted for heaven, — and of 
implanting and sustaining in them eternal life. 

In the origination of this marvellous plan of wisdom and 
grace, the precedence belongs to God the Father. It was he, 
as we have seen, who "so loved the world that he gave his only 
begotten Son." In its execution, it is the Son, to whom the first 
place is assigned; and, upon the assumed certainty of his infal- 
lible faithfulness to his part, were suspended, not only all the 
provisions of the covenant, but all the blessings which under it 
were enjoyed by the saints who lived before the coming of the 
First Begotten into the world. In the application of the grace 
and salvation, thus devised by the Father, and provided by the 
Son, God the Spirit assumes the precedence. Before either 
atoning blood can avail, or adopting love be exercised, the trans- 
forming work of the Holy Spirit must be realized by the elect. 
Whilst the functions of each Person are thus distinctly defined, 
it is also equally clear that in none of them is there any thing 
short of the unanimous presence, concurrence and co-operation 
of the blessed Three. In the formation of the eternal plan, the 
Son, the Wisdom of God, was present, participating in it all, as 
well as entering into a specific covenant relation to it; — and so, 
also, was the Holy Spirit. In the whole atoning work of the 
Son, the Spirit was possessed by him without measure ; and the 
Father did not leave him alone. (John viii. 29.) And the Spirit, 
in performing his work, is not only sent by the Father and Son, 
but is the witness to the soul of their presence and grace, and 
the medium of their communings with it. 

The conditions of the covenant were freely accepted by the 
Son. " For the joy that was set before him, he endured the 
cross, despising the shame." — Heb. xii. 2. When the proposal 
was made, his cheerful reply was, "Lo ; I come to do thy will, 
God." — Heb. x. 9. " When I shall receive the congregation I 
will judge uprightly." — Ps. lxxv. 2. And when he had come to 
earth, and was engaged in fulfilling the purposes of the cove- 



560 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xix. 

nant, he says, " Therefore doth my Father love me, because I 
lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it 
from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it 
down, and I have power to take it again." — John x. 17, 18; 
When the foreshadowings of the storm of indignation for sin 
came upon him, he exclaims, " Now is my soul troubled; and 
(«' ecttco; ITdref), achabv fie ix rr^ wpac, Taurqc; aXXa x. t. A.)* 
what shall I say? Shall I say, Father, save me from this 
hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, 
glorify thy name." — John xii. 27, 28. And when betrayed, he 
rebukes the use of the sword, by the impetuous Peter, with the 
inquiry, " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, 
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of 
angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that 
thus it must be?" — Matt. xxvi. 53, 54. He loved us, and freely 
gave himself for us. 

Whilst, in the transaction here considered, the Father and 
Son were the official contracting Parties, the Holy Spirit sus- 
i 6. The Holy tamed a relation to it equally intimate with theirs. 
Spirit was He was the Witness of the covenant, and concurred 

Witness. - n ^ ^ g p rov i s i ons anc [ terms, involving, as they 

did, his active agency in every stage of their execution; and 
designed, as they were, for unfolding the glory of all the Persons 
in the unity of the Triune God. Hence, he is joined with the 
Father in sending the Son on his mission of grace, in pursuance 
of the covenant. Says the Messiah, "The Lord God and his 
Spirit hath sent me." — Isa. xlviii. 16. In fulfilment of this, his 
witnessing office, the Holy Ghost testified beforehand, to the 
prophets, of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should 
follow. To the same end, at his baptism, the Spirit descended 
as a dove and abode upon Jesus ; thus bearing witness to him as 
the incarnate Son of God. Says John the Baptist, "I knew him 
not; but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said 
unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and 
remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy 



* Griesbachii Nov. Test. Grsec, in loco. 



sect, v.] The Eternal Covenant. 561 

Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God." 
— John i. 32-34. Throughout the whole course of his ministry, 
Christ was accompanied by the Holy Spirit, in fulfilment of this 
witnessing office. By the Spirit he wrought his miracles, as 
himself declares to the Pharisees: — "If I cast out devils by the 
Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." — 
Matt. xii. 28. And to those works he appeals, as the evidence 
of his mission from God: — "I have greater witness than that of 
John; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, 
the same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father 
hath sent me." — John v. 36. So, too, when he had finished the 
work thus given him, he "was (iSexaecoOnj iu xvsufiaTt) justified 
by the Spirit; received up to glory." — 1 Tim. iii. 16. He was 
justified by being attested, as having fulfilled all the terms of 
the covenant, and as thus entitled to reception into heaven, and 
enthronement in the dominion and kingdom which were pro- 
mised. In testimony of this, Christ was, by the Spirit, raised 
from the dead and received up to glory. (Eom. viii. 11.) Nor 
are we to imagine that, in all this, the office performed by the 
Spirit was one of a merely external nature, attesting to others 
the fact that this was the Son of God. But, to the man Christ 
Jesus himself was he the Witness of the covenant; attesting 
his call to the royal priesthood; revealing to him the terms 
and conditions of the covenant, in all their extent and details; 
the humiliation, abasement, suffering and shame, and the exalta- 
tion and glory; and, when the work of abasement and sacrifice 
was finished, attesting it complete, and assuring him of the per- 
fected title to the highest throne and the Father's glory. Hence 
that testimony of John the Baptist : — "He whom God hath sent 
speaketh the words of God ; for God giveth not the Spirit by 
measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given 
all things into his hand." — John iii. 34, 35. To the same effect 
is the testimony of Christ himself, when, in the synagogue, he 
read, from Isaiah, — " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath 
sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the 
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty 



562 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap, xix. 

them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the 
Lord," — and told the people, "This day is this scripture fulfilled 
in your ears." — Luke iv. 18-21. This office of the Spirit as 
Witness, attesting to the Son the promises of the covenant, 
is spoken of in the forty-fifth Psalm, quoted by Paul to the He- 
brews: — "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: 
therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of 
gladness above thy fellows." — Heb. i. 9. 

The witnessing office of the Holy Spirit is particularly empha- 
sized by the apostle John, both in his gospel and first epistle. 
Thus, speaking of that victorious faith which overcometh the 
world, he founds it on that very covenant of which we here 
speak; — he refers it to "the record that God gave us of his, Son. 
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, 
and this life is in his Son." Of that record, "it is the Spirit that 
beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three 
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the "Word, and the Holy 
Ghost: and these three are- one." — 1 John v. 6, 7, 11. Thus, 
whilst recognising the testimony of both the Father and Son, 
the apostle distinguishes that of the Holy Spirit as peculiar and 
official: — "It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the 
Spirit is truth." Nor is it any less the fulfilment of his office 
of Witness, as between the Father and Son, because the testi- 
mony here spoken of is addressed to the elect. Being, by the 
engrafting of the Spirit, united to Christ, and made members of 
his body, his people are identified with him in the covenant. In 
him, and with him, they are parties to it, entitled to possess its 
promises, and secured in the possession by the word of the oath. 
Hence, by the Witness, its whole riches are attested to them, as 
parties. 

It is on account of this identity of his people with him, and 
community of interest in the blessings which are his by cove- 
nant right, that Jesus tells his disciples, "All things that I have 
heard of my Father I have made known unto you." — John xv. 
15. "All things," — to wit, the provisions of the covenant, in- 
cluding his own enthronement and honour, and theirs with him. 
As he says, in another place, " I appoint unto you a kingdom, as 



sect, vi.] The Eternal Covenant 563 

my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink 
at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the: 
twelve tribes of Israel." — Luke xxii. 29, 30. Equally clear and: 
conclusive, on the present point, is another statement of Christ : 
— " When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into 
all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he 
shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to- 
come. He shall glorify me ; for he shall receive of mine, and 
shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are- 
mine : therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show 
it unto you." — John xvi. 13-15. Of this mission of the Spirit,' 
Christ had stated, in previous parts of his discourse, that he 
would be sent by the Father, in the name of the Son, (xiv. 26;} 
that Christ himself would send him from the Father, (xv. 26;) ; 
and that his coming was dependent on Christ's ascension: — "If 
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I 
depart I will send him unto you." — John xvi. 7. It thus appears 
that the work of the Spirit, to which he has reference, was lafr 
such a nature as to imply the completion, by the Son, of his 
covenanted work, — his entrance and approval before the Father, 
and his consequent investiture with the dominion of all things,- 
including the right, by express endowment from the Father, of- 
sending the Spirit, to testify of his finished work, his eternal 
priesthood and universal throne. Then, in the language quoted 
above, he declares that the Spirit, thus sent, will impart all 
truth; and that, as to the nature of his revelations, they are of;. 
things of which he is not the author, but the auditor and wit- 
ness; things, therefore, which have their origin with the other- 
Persons, and which include the future glory of which Christ and 
his people are heirs: — "He will show you things to come." He. 
then more specifically states, that the things of which this testi- 
mony will be given comprehend the entire riches of the glory of 
the Father ; all of which has become the possession of the Son, 
and, as his, will be revealed to his people: — "All things that the 
Father hath are mine ; therefore said I that he shall take of mine, 
and shall show it unto you." How intimately all this relates to; 
the eternal covenant, and how clearly it recognises the office of ; 



564 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

the Spirit as its Witness, we need not insist. In respect to the 
fulfilment of these promises of the ascending Son of God, Paul 
says that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have en- 
tered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared 
for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us 
by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
things of God."— 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. 

We may not dwell longer on this interesting topic. We have 
seen enough to demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is the official 
Witness to the covenant, and that he fulfils this office by the 
anointing and mission of the Son to perform its conditions; by 
attesting the covenant to Jesus, as its Mediator, and bearing 
witness to his faithfulness in fulfilling its terms, and consequent 
title to its promises ; and by testifying of the same things to the 
chosen people of Christ, the members of his body, and partakers 
with him in the promises. We may add, that his office is fur- 
ther fulfilled in testifying of these things to the enemies of Christ, 
to their confusion and condemnation. 

We have assumed, without question, the covenant character 
of the transaction here considered. That such was its true 
$ 7? it teas a nature, does not admit of reasonable question. It 
real covenant. ha S every characteristic of a formal covenant; to 
wit, parties, mutual conditions and a seal. It is, in the Scrip- 
tures, constantly called, a covenant; and its conditional cha- 
racter is there presented, everywhere, in conspicuous light. The 
language in which Jehovah introduces the oath, is clear and 
sufficient, in respect to the rewards and honours which were 
promised to the incarnate Priest : — " The Lord said unto my Lord, 
Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy foot- 
stool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion; 
rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be 
willing in the day of thy power." The words of the oath, itself, 
ordaining him a royal priest, indicate, not only enthronement 
and dignity, but the performance of a sacrificial work, which 
comprehended the whole history of his humiliation. " For every 
high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it 
is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer." — 



sect, vi.] The Eternal Covenant 565 

Heb. viii. 3. The Messianic Psalms are very clear, as to the 
nature of the transaction which they celebrate, — as being one of 
conditional terms. The fifty-third of Isaiah, sets forth in un- 
ambiguous language the humiliation and death to which the Son 
was to be subjected; and the rewards of salvation to his people, 
and exaltation to himself, which were secured to him in return; 
and which are there expressly described as conditional : — " There- 
fore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall 
divide the spoil with the strong ; because he hath poured out his 
soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; 
and he bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the 
transgressors." — Isa. liii. 12. Our Saviour distinctly alludes to 
the provisions of the covenant, when, in his mediatorial prayer, 
he says, " Father, the hour is come. ... I have finished the work 
which thou gavest me to do. And now, Father, glorify thou 
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee 
before the world was." — John xvii. 1, 4, 5. Here is a pre- 
determined time indicated, — the time of the conflict of the Son 
of God with the powers of darkness ; as he says to the betrayer, 
"This is your hour and the power of darkness." — Luke xxii. 53. 
Here is a work mentioned, which he came to perform, — a work 
given him by the Father to do. Two elements in its design and 
end are mentioned; namely, salvation to his people, — "As thou 
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal 
life to as many as thou hast given him;" — and glory to the 
Father's name, — "I have glorified thee: I have finished the 
work." And, on the ground of the fulfilment of the conditions, 
he claims the reward : — "I have finished the work; and now, 
Father, glorify thou me." "Glorify me, the mediatorial person, 
God-man, with the glory which I, the Son, had with thee before 
the world was." So, Paul tells the Hebrews, that the self- 
abasement of the Son of God was assumed, as a condition and 
pledge of subsequent reward: — "Who, for the joy that was set 
before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set 
down at the right hand of the throne of God." — Heb. xii. 2. In 
short, the whole discussion of Paul, in respect to the priesthood 
of Christ, in the epistle to the Hebrews, involves it as a funda- 



566 The EloJiim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

•mental fact, that the oath of Jehovah, by which the Son was 
ordained a royal and eternal priest, was the solemn ratification 
of a formal conditional covenant between those blessed and 
adorable Persons. Thus, in one word, comparing Christ's priest- 
hood with that of Aaron, he says, that, "Inasmuch as not with- 
out an oath he was made priest; (for those priests were made 
without an oath ; but this with an oath, by him that said unto 
;him, The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for- 
ever after the order of Melchizedek ;) by so much was Jesus 
made a surety of a better covenant." — Heb. vii. 20-22. Here, 
not only is the transaction designated as, (dca&ijxiq,) a covenant, 
but the office which is assigned to Christ involves the same 
thing. A surety, is one who enters into engagement for the 
fulfilment of the conditions of a contract or covenant. The case 
is still further demonstrated, by the comparison made of the 
"better covenant," with that which was made with Israel at 
Sinai. That the latter was a proper covenant, is beyond ques- 
tion ; and, that the oath made with Christ was of the same na- 
ture, the apostle assures us. 

Another point of interest, in respect to the transaction here 
considered, is its date. Its history is parallel with the eternity 
jg 8. its date of God. This is implied in the fact that the 
eternity. covenant was made between the Persons of the God- 

head. Since it began and terminated among those adorable 
Persons, it is therefore independent of any limitations of time; 
and belongs to the annals of eternity. The conclusion thus 
attained, is further demonstrated by the fact, that every element 
in the covenant is, in the Scriptures, distinctly referred to a date 
before the beginning of time. Thus it is of Christ's priestly 
office. Says Peter, " Ye are redeemed . . . with the precious blood 
jot Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; who 
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but 
was manifest in these last times." — 1 Peter i. 19, 20. Nothing 
-can be more evident, than, that the atoning work of Christ must 
have been a voluntary work, and not imposed without his con- 
sent; and we have sufficiently shown that such was in fact the 
case. The compact, by which he agreed to undertake that work, 



sect, vii.] The Eternal Covenant. 567 

must then be at least as old as the decree by which he was or- 
dained to the office of atonement. That decree is here by the 
apostle located before the foundation of the world. That, there- 
fore, is the date of the covenant, by which he became a priest. 
The same principle applies to the terms in which John speaks 
of the redeemed, as those " whose names are written in the book 
of life of the Lamb slain, from the foundation of the world." — 
Rev. xiii. 8. See also xvii. 8. From these places we learn the 
date of the oath by which Christ was ordained a priest after the 
order of Melchizedek. The priestly office of Christ must be 
admitted to take precedence of his sacrificial work, as the slain 
Lamb ; since it is in the exercise of his priesthood, that he pro- 
vides and offers himself a sacrifice. Further, both of these must 
have been coincident with the entry in the book of life of the 
Lamb, of the names of those for whom his blood was given. But 
the devotion of the Lamb to sacrifice, and the inscription of the 
names in the book, are both defined as occurring from the founda- 
tion of the world; or, as the same date is above expressed by 
Peter, " before the foundation of the world." The same, there- 
fore, must be the date of the word of the oath by which he was 
consecrated a priest. "With this, too, agrees the parallel, drawn 
by Paul, between Melchizedek and Christ: — " Having neither 
beginning of days, nor end of life." — Heb. vii. 3. 

That the covenant originated in the councils of eternity, we 
are expressly assured by Paul. He speaks of the "hope of 
eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world 
began." — Tit. L 2. This promise could not have been given to 
any creature. It was made before creature had being. To 
whom it was given, Paul, in another place, tells us : — " Cod hath 
saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our 
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was 
given us, in Christ Jesus, before the world began." — 2 Tim. i. 9. 
Again, to the Ephesians, he says, "Blessed be the Cod and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all 
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ : according as he 
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. . . . 
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to 



568 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

his good pleasure which he hath purposed in him ; that in the 
dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together 
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which 
are on earth." — Eph. i. 3, 4, 9, 10. In Paul's discussion, here, 
the whole scheme of grace is represented as, in its sum and ful- 
ness, originating in eternity. The saints are represented as then 
chosen "in Christ." The mystery of God's will, respecting the 
dispensation of the fulness of time, was purposed, (iv abrw) "in 
him," — not, "in himself," as our translation has it, That mys- 
tery was the eternal purpose "to gather together in one all 
things in Christ." Comprehended in that general plan, is de- 
clared to be, the inheritance to which the saints are called, (v. 
10, 11 ;) and the official attestation of that inheritance is attri- 
buted to the Holy Spirit, bearing witness of it to them, as one 
with Christ, the Son and heir : — " In whom, after that ye believed, 
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the 
earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased 
possession, unto the praise of his glory." — verses 13, 14. 

When we add, that the kingdom to which Christ's followers 
are heirs was bestowed upon them from eternity, the evidence 
on the present point would seem to be complete. That kingdom 
becomes theirs, by virtue of investiture from Christ himself, in 
the exercise of his own royalty, which is acquired by the cove- 
nant. Hence, Jesus says to the church in Laodicsea, "To him 
that over cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even 
as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his 
throne." — Rev. iii. 21. See also Matt. xix. 28, and Luke xxii. 
29. But, the kingdom thus bestowed, Christ himself declares 
to have been prepared for them from everlasting: — "Come, ye 
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
the foundation of the world." — Matt. xxv. 34. From all this, 
it is unquestionable, that the oath of the covenant, as recited in 
the Psalm, was addressed by the First Person of the Godhead to 
the Second, in the seclusion of their own eternity. This position 
is further confirmed by the fact, to be noticed presently, that 
Christ was enthroned as covenant king, from everlasting. 

We shall, at present, particularly insist upon but one of the 



sect, viii.] The Eternal Covenant. 569 

provisions of the covenant. The others are considered in the 
a 9. its lenefi. following chapters. As respects the salvation of 
daries the men ; the transaction was one of special and distin- 
guishing grace, for an elect or chosen multitude, 
who are as the sand of the sea, and as the stars of heaven innu- 
merable; but who were individually known and numbered in 
the covenant ; and whose salvation was therein rendered infallibly 
secure, as a reward to the Son for his incarnation and death. 
The truth of this is necessarily involved in the whole plan of 
salvation, and manner of its application. The plan is one, the 
specific object of which, so far as the present point is concerned, 
was the salvation of a people from their sins. The means by 
which this was to be accomplished were two : — first, the death 
of the Mediator, as satisfaction on their behalf to the penalty 
of the violated law; and second, the renewing of the Holy Ghost. 
Both of these are entirely independent of any merit or agency 
of those upon whom the salvation is bestowed. The application 
of the atoning blood must, manifestly, be at the mere discretion 
of God, as it is a thing which, in the very nature of the case, 
no man could merit, and which, therefore, no man could claim, 
as of right. And the renewing of the soul is a work, prior to 
which, no man is reconciled to God; and of which, therefore, 
the antecedent consent or acquiescence of the subject of it can- 
not be predicated. Christ's people are indeed willing in the day 
of his power; but that willingness does not anticipate, but re- 
sults from, the power. They are born, "not of blood, nor of the 
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." — John i. 
13. The salvation being, therefore, in all its parts, the work 
of God, alone, who could as easily have saved all as any, the 
fact that, whilst some are saved, others are left to their own 
way, and consequent ruin, is proof of a distinguishing grace 
exercised toward those who are saved. The fact that a certain 
specific number will at length reign in glory, as the Mediator's 
reward, who were all foreknown by him, implies, unavoidably, 
that, in consenting to bear the curse, these were the very per- 
sons whose salvation he anticipated, and in consideration of 
whose salvation he agreed to suffer. It is also certain that 



570 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

lie did not agree to save those who will at last perish. Nor was 
their salvation promised to him in the covenant. Their redemp- 
tion, therefore, was no part of the consideration, impelled by 
which, he bore the cross. They were given to him; but not 
as a willing people. In regard to them the promise is, "I will 
beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate 
him." — Psalm lxxxix. 23. The fact that in the covenant itself 
the human race was distinguished into two parties, — the people 
of Christ, and his enemies; and that the former are given to 
him as willing and joyful subjects of his sceptre of grace, whilst 
the others are consigned to the sword of his wrath, stands out 
everywhere conspicuous upon the face of the Scriptures. The 
line of distinction is broadly drawn in the very first announce- 
ment of the redeeming seed: — "I will put enmity between thee 
and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; it shall 
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." — Gen. iii. 15. 
Certainly, that blessed promise did not include in its provisions 
of grace the seed of the serpent. The same demarcation is seen 
in the one hundred and tenth Psalm, in immediate connection 
with the oath of the covenant: — "The Lord said unto my Lord, 
Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy foot- 
stool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion : 
rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. . . . The Lord at thy 
right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath." 
Such are the terms used, on the one hand. On the other: — 
"Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the 
beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning : thou hast 
the dew of thy youth." So in the fifty- third of Isaiah, whilst 
the leading thought is that of salvation to his seed, the perdition 
of his enemies is not omitted: — " Therefore will I divide him a 
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the 
strong."— Isa. liii. 12. 

On this subject, the testimony of our Saviour himself is full 
and unequivocal. Thus, speaking of the affectionate relation 
subsisting between him and his apostles, he says to them, " I 
speak not of you all : I know whom I have chosen." — John xiii. 
18. In the parable of the good shepherd, he says, "lam the 



sect, ix.] The Eternal Covenant. 571 

good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As 
the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father ; and I lay- 
down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are 
not of this fold : them also I must bring ; and they shall hear 
my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." — John 
x. 14-16. Here he asserts his sheep to be distinctly recognised 
by him ; and that it is for them, as such, that he lays down his 
life. He further declares that his sheep are not all of the Jewish 
fold, nor all yet gathered ; but that all must at length be gathered 
into his one fold ; thus indicating that, by the sheep for whom 
he died, he did not mean actual believers only, who were then 
living, but the whole number of those whom he will call by his 
grace, and at last gather into the heavenly fold. Still more un- 
equivocally he goes on to say to the Jews, u Ye believe not, because 
ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my 
voice, and I know them, and they follow me ; and I give unto 
them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any 
pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me 
is greater than all; and none is able to pluck them out of my 
Father's hand." — John x. 26-29. Thus he testifies to the Jews, — 
not, as some would have it, that they were not his sheep because 
they would not believe ; but the reverse of this : — that the reason 
why they did not believe was, that they were not of his sheep, — 
that if they were his sheep they would hear his voice and believe. 
Again, he declares that his sheep were a gift to him from the 
Father, — that he gives them eternal life, and that they shall 
never perish. Should any one still question whether, in the 
covenant, the elect were expressly given to the Son, and their 
salvation distinctly provided for in that gift, let him listen to 
the plea of the Son to the Father, in which he makes express 
appeal to the covenant, and claims the fulfilment of its terms : — 
" Father, the hour is come : glorify thy Son, that thy Son also 
may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, 
that {nav o did(Dxaq aurco) to every one whom thou hast given 
him, he may give eternal life." " I pray for them : I pray not 
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me." " Father, 
I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me 



572 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

where I am ; that they may behold my glory which thou hast 
given me." — John xvii. 1, 2, 9, 24. Paul tells the Ephesians that 
the saints were by God the Father "chosen in Christ before the 
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without 
blame before him in love : having predestinated us unto the 
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself." — Eph. i. 4, 5. 

The doctrine of the covenant election of grace is fundamental 
to the whole plan of salvation as set forth in these pages. Par- 
ticularly is it implied in the fact, that those who are, by the 
terms of the covenant, given to Christ as co-heirs in the promises, 
are, specifically, his seed, the members of his body. But, to this 
point we shall return hereafter. 

The seal of the covenant was the oath of God. — " The Lord 
hath sworn, and will not repent." We have seen that the 
2 io. its seal Promises of the covenant, although primarily ad- 
the oath of dressed to the Son, were repeatedly reannounced 
God ' to the people of Christ, to Abraham and David, and 

their seed. So it was with the oath.. Says the Angel of the 
covenant to Abraham, " By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, 
for because thou hast done this thing, and hast, not withheld thy 
son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, . . . and in 
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." — Gen. 
xxii. 16-18. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, tells the multitude 
that " God had sworn with an oath to David, that of the fruit 
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to 
sit on his throne." — Acts ii. 30. Such is the rock of adamant 
on which the provisions of the covenant stand, — the oath of God. 
"That by two immutable things," says Paul, "in which it was 
impossible for God to lie," namely, his counsel and his oath, "we 
might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay 
hold upon the hope set before us." — Heb. vi. 18. Heaven and 
earth may pass away; cherubim transformed into devils may 
plan and rage ; the powers of earth may combine to oppose : 
yet shall that covenant stand. All its conditions shall be ful- 
filled, and all its purposes accomplished ; whether of glory to God, 
salvation and blessedness to man, or of confusion and perdition 
to Satan and his followers, the enemies of God. 



sect, ix.] The Eternal Covenant. 573 

The most important provisions of the covenant had respect to 
man, securing his restoration from ruin and exaltation to eternal 
a 11. it or- life anc ^ gl° r y- But we have abundant evidence 
dained the Son that the grand design of the whole transaction was 
as Reveahr. m^]} more extensive than any thing involved in the 
mere salvation of man or destruction of Satan. As in the 
eternal plan, which we have formerly considered, so here, the 
final end of the whole dispensation is to be sought in God him- 
self. It is, and can be, nothing less than the revelation of 
himself, — the discovery to the creatures of his uncreated glory. 
In the dispensation of such a scheme, the consummate office of 
the Son is that of Kevealer of the Father. Such is the testi- 
mony of the Scriptures; and such is the meaning of some of 
the names there given to the Son. Thus, he is announced to 
David, and described by Paul, as the Adam that is from above. 
He is called the great Prophet, the faithful and true Witness, 
and the Logos, or Word of G-od ; as being the means of (rod's 
communication with the creatures. Hence, too, his name of 
Mediator, as the medium of access to God, not for men only, but 
for every creature, " No man (ovoscz, none, no being) hath 
seen God at any time : the only-begotten Son, which is in the 
bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." — John i. 18. That 
such is the fact, in respect to the angelic hosts as well as man, 
appears from this : — that, whilst no creature can attain to any 
knowledge of the invisible God by immediate perception, or in 
any other way than by contemplating what he has done, the Son 
of God is the Mediator through whom all the works of God are 
wrought, as well of creation and providence as of grace. " By 
him God made the worlds." And if, to the heavenly intelli- 
gences, " the invisible things of him from the creation of the 
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are 
made, even his eternal power and Godhead," — Rom. i. 20; — if, to 
them, " the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
ment showeth his handiwork, "^Psalm xix. 1 ; in these they see 
that glory as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, by whose 
word of power they all are sustained, as by it they were created. 
In reference to this office of making known the Father, Paul 



574 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

tells the Colossians that the Son is " the image of the invisible 
God," — Col. i. 15; and the Hebrews that he is "the brightness 
of his glory, and the express image of his person/' — Heb. i. 3 ; 
and 7 in both instances, establishes the assertion upon the ground 
that he is the Maker of all things. To attempt to glance, even, 
at any large proportion of the evidence on this point, which is 
found in all the teachings of our Saviour himself, is impossible 
and unnecessary. "When the Jews persecuted him for working 
a miracle on the Sabbath, and claiming God as his Father, 
thereby making himself equal with God, he replied to them, 
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of 
himself, but what he seeth the Father do : for what things 
soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." — John v. 
19. To his disciple Philip, asking him to show them the 
Father, he says, " Have I been so long time with you, and yet 
hast thou not known me, Philip ? He that hath seen me hath 
seen the Father ; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Fa- 
ther?" — John xiv. 9. He tells his disciples, "All things that 
the Father hath arc mine ; therefore said I that he [the Com- 
forter] shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." — John 
xvi. 15. And, in his prayer to the Father, he says, M I have 
glorified thee on the earth : I have finished the work which thou 
gavest me to do." "I have manifested thy name unto the men 
which thou gavest me." — John xvii. 4, 6. So Paul declares, 
that " great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifested in 
the flesh, . . . seen of angels." — 1 Tim. iii. 16. In respect to the 
relation of the work of Christ to the angelic hosts, our space 
will not permit an extended discussion. It is, however, evident 
that his office is one involving, not only dominion OA~er them, 
but beneficent purposes toward them, and that the scheme of 
the covenant contemplated, as the ultimate end had in view, the 
revelation of God, to all the intelligent creatures, in the person 
and work of Christ his Son. 

In order to the fulfilment of the purposes contemplated in his 
investiture with this office, it was necessary that Christ should 
be, not only the Saviour of men, but the Maker of all things, 
the Lord of Providence, and Head over all; as, in all these, the 



sect, xi.] The Eternal Covenant 575 

glory of trie Godhead shines. It was, therefore, requisite that 
the Son should be placed upon the throne, in the midst of that 
same eternity in which the covenant was made. This, indeed, 
is implied in the very announcement of such a compact between 
such parties. The bounds and limitations which time and space, 
and finite intelligence, set to the conceptions and actions of men, 
have no application to Him who inhabits eternity and immensity ; 
alike unlimited by either of those dimensions. To the holiness 
and truth of God, the mutual pledges of the covenant are equi- 
valent to their fulfilment. To his eternity, the work of Christ 
on earth was from everlasting as fully present in its whole pro- 
cess and completion, as when, in the annals of time, the Son 
walked among men, and laboured and died. The throne was, 
therefore, possessed by the Son, from the sealing of the compact; 
both as being thus a matter of purchased right, and as his in- 
stallation was the means, contemplated in it, for the fulfilling of 
the ends of the covenant. Hence, the declaration of Wisdom, 
in the book of Proverbs: — "I was set up from everlasting, from 
the beginning or ever the earth was." — Prov. viii. 23. As we 
have seen, the word, "set up," is the same which in the second 
Psalm declares the coronation of the Son: — "Yet have I set my 
king upon my holy hill." — Psalm ii. 6. The transaction is the 
same. And, as in the Psalm the date is fixed by coincidence 
with the birth of the Son, — "this day have I begotten thee," — 
so, here, they are associated, and together dated "from ever- 
lasting." 

The extent of the field embraced in the purview of the co- 
venant was proportionate to the dignity of the parties, and the 
g 12. its pur- grandeur and importance of the objects. Without 
view, all things, limitation or reserve, it comprehended in its pro- 
visions all things in the universe. Its conditions embraced 
every creature and event; all time and eternity. We have 
already? in a former chapter, considered the leading features of 
an eternal plan according to which God has seen good to reveal 
himself to his creatures. The covenant was the means, devised 
by infinite wisdom, of making known to the creatures the im- 
mutability of the council embodied in that plan ; and of securing 



576 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xix. 

its infallible accomplishment. The provisions, therefore, are co- 
extensive and identical with the features of the plan; and their 
end is one and the same, — the revelation of God to his intelligent 
creatures. In the process of administration, man is the great 
centre of interest and action. The first Adam, the image of God 
and crown of the creation, enthroned amid the joyous shoutings 
of the sons of God; and his apostasy and ruin; — the second 
Adam, the Son of God and of man, the brightness of the Father's 
glory, and express image of his person; his eternal generation; 
his creation of all things; his incarnation and death; his tri- 
umphant conflict with Satan; his exaltation and glory, as man 
swaying the sceptre of universal empire, and receiving the 
homage of every knee in heaven and earth ; the general judgment, 
where the man Christ Jesus and his people shall sit, and, in pre- 
sence of the universe, determine the eternal state of every crea- 
ture, devils, angels and reprobate men; and the final and eternal 
pre-eminence of man in the persons of Christ and his people ; — these 
are the grand features in the whole amazing scheme, and land- 
marks in the process of its accomplishment. Subservient to these 
are all other creatures and events. In the light of this covenant, 
our earth is the great centre of attraction to the universe, and 
the high throne of God's revealed glory. The material universe, 
in all its magnificence and starry beauty, is but a chaplet, to 
adorn the brow of that Second Man, in whose unsearchable 
person the Maker of them all is incarnate. They all were made 
by him and for him ; he upholdeth them all by the word of his 
power ; and in him they consist. The angelic throng, — creatures 
of the power, and dependent upon the upholding goodness, of the 
Son of man, — are all man's servants, ministering spirits, sent 
forth to minister for the heirs of salvation; and students, de- 
siring to look into, and comprehend, the mystery of God, revealed 
in the persons of the first and second Adam and the history of 
man. Man was the prize, for whom the Son of God left his 
throne, and entered the lists with Satan and all his hosts ; and 
earth was its scene. And when, at length, the mystery of God 
shall be finished, and the Son shall have triumphed over every 
foe, — when he shall have cast Satan and death and hell and aU 



sect, xii.] The Eternal Covenant 577 

the enemies into the bottomless pit, and sealed the door, no more 
to be opened, because there is no more curse, — when he shall 
have rescued from the grave the dust of his people, and received 
them to his own glory, — when, by his whole wondrous adminis- 
tration, he shall have made known the invisible God, to the 
blessed angelic hosts, in all the glorious symmetry of his un- 
searchable perfections and unspeakable grace, and shall have 
established them in perfect holiness and infallible allegiance, 
forever, — when the whole scheme of the covenant shall be com- 
pleted, and all its ends accomplished, and the Son, accompanied 
by all the angels of God, shall draw near the throne, to deliver 
up the kingdom to God even the Father, — the redeemed of men 
will be the attendants nearest his person; and the child of Mary 
will be He, the attraction of every eye, his beauties the delight 
of every heart, and the lustre of his deeds the theme of every 
tongue. And the spontaneous burst of rapturous praise, which 
will pour in mingled harmony from every voice and harp in 
heaven, as the sound of mighty thunderings, and as the sound 
of many waters, will extol and celebrate the glory of the throne, 
and majesty of the kingdom, of the Son of David, the Son of 
man. Nor, in all the blessed and adoring throng, are there 
any but debtors to the power the goodness and grace of Him 
whose praise they celebrate. "For by him were all things 
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and 
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, 
or powers; all things were created by him and for him; and he 
is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is 
the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the 
first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the 
pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all 
fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his 
cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, 
whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." — Col. i. 
16-20. 

37 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE SECOND ADAM. 

In the days of Herod, the king of Judea, "the angel Gabriel 
was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a 
§ 1. Christ was virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, 
truly a man. f the house of David ; and the virgin's name was 
Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou 
that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou 
among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his 
saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this 
should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for 
thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt con- 
ceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name 
Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the 
Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of 
his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob 
forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said 
Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a 
man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy 
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall 
overshadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall be 
born of thee shall be called the Son of God. . . . And Mary 
said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me ac- 
cording to thy word. And the angel departed from her." — 
Luke i. 26-38. 

The Scriptures are very particular in setting forth the true 
and proper humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his deriva- 
tion of it, by a true generation, from the common nature and 
parents of the race. In the original promise, he is described as 
the seed of the woman. In the covenant with Abraham, he is 

578 



sect, i.] The Second Adam. 579 

constantly designated as his seed. In the oath to David, the 
promise is, " I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall pro- 
ceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom." — 
2 Sam. vii. 12. Similar is the language of Peter, on the day of 
Pentecost: — David "knowing that God had sworn with an oath 
to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he 
would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." — Acts ii. 30. To 
the same purpose are the genealogies which trace his lineage 
through David and Abraham back to Adam the father of the 
race, and the woman, to whom he was promised as her seed. 
ISTor was his genealogy thus traced merely for the purpose of 
showing the fulfilment of the promises ; but those promises were 
made because that which they revealed to the faith of God's 
people was essential to the salvation of man. None but a child 
of Adam could perform the work which was laid upon the Son 
of God. 

The fact, however, of the true humanity of the second Adam, 
is not called in question, and need not, therefore, be insisted 
upon. It is of more importance that we understand what is 
meant by it, and involved in it. The subject is sometimes dis- 
cussed in such a manner as to imply that all that is involved in 
the humanity of the Mediator, is, the possession of body and soul 
in the likeness of man. But this falls entirely short of the truth 
in the case. An incarnate angel might precisely conform to the 
likeness of man. He might be possessed of precisely the same 
physical, intellectual and moral traits and attributes which cha- 
racterize our race. But such a being could not have filled the 
place of the man, Christ Jesus, in the Mediatorial person and 
work. To the Mediator two duties were assigned, both of which 
equally required him to be a true shoot from the stock of Adam. 
He must meet and satisfy the curse, to which, by the fall, man 
became obnoxious ; and he must acquire a title to eternal life, by 
the terms of the very covenant which Adam violated. 
§2. TheJiedi- ^ n 01> der to satisfy the curse of the law on man's 
ator must be a behalf, it was every way necessary that the Mediator 
man. should be a partaker of man's nature. In the na- 

ture that sinned must the atonement for sin be made. Since 



580 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

it was the apostasy of man's nature which had incurred the 
curse, inexorable justice demands satisfaction against that very- 
nature ; and he who will meet and satisfy the curse, must appear 
at the bar clothed in the nature which is thus under condemna- 
tion.* Further, the penalty to be met and satisfied was of a 
form appropriate to man's nature; and in that form does justice, 
which knows no compromise, demand satisfaction. 

That the second Adam should be the seed of the first, was 
equally necessary to the other part of his work, — his acquiring 
a covenant right to eternal life, on behalf of man. The trans- 
gression of Adam violated, but did not abrogate, the covenant. 
As we have already seen, the law and covenant, as originally 
given to man, and inscribed on his heart, were inseparably in- 
corporated with each other. In all the announcements of the 
law, made after the fall, the covenant is recognised as an element 
in the document; the terms, — "The man that doeth them shall 
live in them." ISTot only so, but the perfection of God's wisdom, 
the immutability of his nature and law, and his justice and 
truth, all forbid that man should ever possess eternal life on any 
other than the precise terms at first proposed to him. Those 
terms were in alternative form: — "Do, and live. Transgress, 
and die." To assume that man may ever attain to life upon any 
other conditions, is to suppose that the promise of this covenant 
is forfeited, and yet its curse not enforced. And this would be 
an impeachment of every attribute of the divine nature. No 
favour can ever be possessed by man, in derogation of the curse 

* "Hominem verum esse oportuit, ex genere humano quod peccavit propaga- 
tum, non ex nihilo creatum, aut coelitus delapsum, quin et omnibus infirmitati- 
bus nostris obnoxium, peccato excepto. 1. Propter justitiam Dei, quse postu- 
labat ut eadem natura humana, quae peccaverat, pro peccatis lueret. ' Anima 
enim quae peccavit, ipsa morietur.' 'Et quocunque die comederis, ex eo, morte 
morieris.' Verus igitur homo ex posteritate Adami qui peccavit, pro hominibus, 
quod ab ipsis exigebatur, dependere debebat. Hue faciunt dicta : ' Quia per ho- 
minem mors, per hominem resurrectio mortuorum.' ' Unus Mediator Dei et homi- 
num, homo Christus Jesus.' 'Assumpsit semen Abrahse, unde debuit per omnia 
fratribus similis fieri,' &c. Ideo apostolus dicit nos esse consepultos Christo per 
baptismum, et cum Christo resurrexisse. Augustinus De Vera Religione, — ' Ipsa 
natura suscipienda, quae liberanda.' " — Corp. JDoct. Chr., etc., Ex ore D. Zach. 
Ursinse, in expl. Catech. xvi. 2. 



sect, ii.] The Second Adam. 581 

of the covenant; nor in any way, which does not fulfil its terms. 
They were the conditions, upon which God at the beginning sus- 
pended his favour to man; and "he is in one mind, and who can 
turn him?" Christ's headship was created by the eternal cove- 
nant. But the condition of that covenant and headship was the 
fulfilment of all the provisions and terms of the covenant made 
with Adam. Here we have the key to the fact that the law of 
God, as proclaimed from Sinai, was set forth specifically in cove- 
nant form ; and, as such, identified with the covenant made with 
Abraham. Thus Moses says to Israel, "The Lord our God 
made a covenant with us in Horeb;" and then recites the ten 
commandments as the terms of that covenant. (Deut. v. 2-21.) 
The tables of stone on which the commandments were written, 
are thence called the tables of the covenant; (Deut. ix. 9-11, 15;) 
and the coffer in which they were kept, "the ark of the cove- 
nant." (Deut. x. 3, 4, 8.) Says God, by Jeremiah, "Behold 
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant 
with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah ; not ac- 
cording to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the 
day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land 
of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a 
husband unto them, saith the Lord." — Jer. xxxi. 31, 32. In 
short, the covenant character of that announcement of the law 
is continually insisted upon in the Scriptures, and does not admit 
of question. Nor does this remark apply merely to the moral 
law, but with equal emphasis to the whole ceremonial ritual of 
Moses ; which, as well in its whole scope, as in each particular 
of its details, proclaims covenant relations between Israel and 
God, — relations of favour, conditioned upon the fundamental 
principle of the law of nature, that is, obedience. Further, the 
Sinai covenant is set forth as the same which was made with the 
patriarchs, the fathers of Israel. "It shall come to pass," says 
Moses, "if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep and do 
them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant 
and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers : and he will 
love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee ; . . . thou shalt be 
blessed above all people." — Deut. vii. 12-14. Obedience to the 



582 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

law is thus made to Israel the condition, on which, the promises 
given to Abraham, should be fulfilled. The law, then, was the 
conditional term of the Abrahamic covenant. This is expressly- 
intimated by Jehovah, when he says of Abraham, "I know 
him, that he will command his children and his household after 
him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and 
judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which 
he hath spoken of him." — Gen. xviii. 19. That memorable trial 
of Abraham's faith, in which he was required to sacrifice his son, 
was a signal announcement of the fundamental relation which 
the law sustained to the covenant. Not only did it prove a,ad 
render illustrious the faith of the patriarch; but, on the other 
hand, it proclaimed implicit, unquestioning and perfect obedience 
to be the condition of the promise. And the fact that neither 
Israel nor Abraham could possibly acquire a title to the promises, 
for themselves, on such terms, only renders the more manifest 
the design of all these transactions as bearing upon the coming 
and work of the Son of God. They announce the covenant as 
surviving the fall, in the unimpaired integrity of its terms. 
They point to that Seed, to whom the promise of Sinai, as well 
as those to Abraham, was made, and in whom all the terms of 
the covenant shall be fulfilled. It was, therefore, necessary that 
the Mediator should assume the very nature, to which the co- 
venant law was addressed, and in which it was inscribed; so as 
to be in a position to claim the life therein promised, upon per- 
forming the conditions prescribed. He must not only be like 
Adam, in the endowments of his person, and the inscription in 
his heart ; but of him, to whom the law was addressed, and the 
covenant given; so that he might obey the very mandate thus 
given; and enjoy the very promise which Adam received. 

Accordingly, the Scriptures not only insist upon the fact that 
the Eedeemer was a man. This they rather assume than form- 
ally assert. But, going beyond this, they lay much stress upon 
the derivation of his human nature and person from the common 
fountain of the race. Hence, the terms used on the subject are 
commonly such as give emphasis to the paternal relation of 
Adam and the other ancestors of the Eedeemer, as the cause of 



sect, ii.] The Second Adam. 583 

his humanity, — such as express his native inbeing in them. 
Thus, as we have seen, he is constantly called the seed of Adam, 
of Abraham and of David. He is represented as proceeding 
out of the bowels of these patriarchs ; is called " a rod out of 
the stem of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots ;" and is pre- 
dicted by the name, The Bkanch. (Isa. xi. 1; Zech. iii. 8). 
The title by which Jesus designates himself is equally significant 
on this subject. He does not call himself, the man, or, the man 
from heaven ; but, the " Son of Man." This name he applies 
to himself continually. And, even when adjured by the high 
priest whether he was the Son of God, in his affirmative answer 
he remarkably includes the name significant of his human rela- 
tions. "Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And 
Jesus said, I am : and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the 
right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." — 
Mark xiv. 61, 62. 

The design of the Mediator, in assuming such a relation to us, 
Paul states : — " When the fulness of the time was come, God sent 
§ 3. Scripture forth his Son, (yevdfjievov,) born of a woman, born under 
testimony. the law, to redeem them that were under the law, 
that we might receive the adoption of sons." — Gal. iv. 4, 5. In 
the epistle to the Hebrews, the same view is presented. The 
dominion which was given to man is represented as realized in 
the person of Jesus. His assumption of humanity was in order 
" that he by the grace of God might taste death for every man." 
The sufferings by means of which he will bring many sons to 
glory, are referred to the fact, that " both he that sanctifieth, and 
they who are sanctified, are all (e£ evoc) from one;" to wit, 
Adam ; "for which cause he is not ashamed to call them breth- 
ren." The apostle then appeals to the scriptures which assert 
a relation of kindred between Christ and his people : — " I will 
declare thy name unto my brethren;" and, "Behold I and the 
children which God hath given me." Hence he argues that, 
" forasmuch as the children (xexoevcovyxe) are communicants, or 
joint partakers in flesh and blood, he also, {Tcapa.7tXrj(jUo<z fjtet£a%e y ) 
in the same manner, took part in them ; that through death he 
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; 



584 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life- 
time subject to bondage. For, verily, (oh djyiXcov liztlapfidvzTat') 
he does not take [into union with himself] the angels; but he takes 
the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to 
be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and 
faithful high priest." — Heb. ii. 14-17. The same principle is 
presented by the apostle when he says of the doctrine of the 
resurrection, " Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become 
the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, 
by man came also the resurrection of the dead." — 1 Cor. xv. 
20, 21. In the nature that incurred death must death be 
met and vanquished. 

Of the assumption of humanity by the Son of God, Paul tells 
the Philippians that he "(iv popipyj Osoo u-dp^wv), being at first in 
the nature of God, did not think the being as God (dpxaypbv) a 
thing to be eagerly retained ; but emptied himself, taking (popcpyjv 
doulou) the nature of a servant, being born in the likeness of 
man ; and, being found in attitude and condition as a man, he 
humbled himself, becoming obedient until death, even the death 
of the cross." — Phil. ii. 6-8. That the word, (pop^y,) " form," 
means much more than a mere external likeness, is certain, from 
several considerations. 1. That " form" with which the Son is 
said to have been at first invested, he is not represented ever to 
have resigned. That of which he emptied himself was not 
(popcprj Oeou) " the form of God," but the being (Jaa 6ew) "as 
God." And his possession of the likeness of man was conse- 
quent upon and subordinate to his assumption of (popcprj oo'jXoo) 
"the form of a servant." Did (popwrj), form, mean no more 
than an image or likeness, there would be no propriety in the 
change of terms thus occurring. Having been announced as 
clothed with the form of God, his humiliation would have been 
described as the resignation of that form ; and his assumption of 
the form of a servant would not have been stated as something 
distinct from his being made in the likeness of man. Evidently, 
the being (caa dew) as God, and, (iv opioid) part dvdpcoTtcov) in the 
likeness of man, are stated as particulars under the more exten- 
sive meaning of the word, (popiprj), form. It was because he 



sect, in.] The Second Adam. 585 

was originally "in the form of God," that he was "as God;" 
and ? by taking upon him the "form of a servant," he acquired 
the likeness of man. 2. If the word, "form," is to be inter- 
preted as meaning the likeness of God, it will admit of no tole- 
rable explanation which does not involve the possession of attri- 
butes like those of God. But the likeness of the Son to the 
Father consists in the possession of the very same incommuni- 
cable attributes. In this sense, the form of God is equivalent 
to the possession of a community of nature with God. 3. Paul 
is magnifying the condescension of Christ, as an example for us. 
But his condescension consisted in the fact that he, being truly 
God, laid not aside his divine nature, but the robes of divinity, 
and assumed not the mere form and semblance of a man, but a 
true manhood, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Should any 
one aim to celebrate the condescension of the emperor Charles, 
by dwelling on the fact that he laid aside the robes of royalty, 
and^ assumed the style of a subject; and altogether ignore the 
more important matter that he actually became a private person, 
— it would be very weak and absurd. Yet, such will be the 
argument of Paul, if we deny him to speak of the divine nature, 
which was native to the Son of God, and which he condescended 
to veil, by a real assumption of the nature of man. By the 
word, (jtopiprj), form, therefore, we understand all that is expressed 
by (Jtra and opoitopa), equality and likeness, but including the 
nature and attributes upon which those expressions are based. 
As applied to God, it denotes the divine essence, clothed with all 
glorious attributes and perfections. As appropriated to man, it 
indicates the nature, person, attributes and relations of a true 
humanity.* The argument, therefore, of the apostle is this : — 
" Christ, being invested with the nature, attributes and honour of 
eternal Godhead, did not think the being arrayed in glory as 
God, a thing to be eagerly retained ; but emptied himself, taking 
the nature, person and condition of a servant ; and was born in the 

* " M.op(f)7) denotat essentiam Dei, non nudam, sed suis vestitam qualitatibus, 
et proprietatibus essentialibus, gloria, majestate, etc.; quomodo et naturam huma- 
nam cum suis quoque qualitatibus consideratam." — Zanchius, in Poll Synopsis, 
in loco. 



586 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

likeness of man. And, being found in the attitude and position 
of a man, subject to the law, he humbled himself, being obedient 
until death, even the death of the cross." He took to himself 
the nature and condition of a servant, as, from being the Law- 
giver, he became subject to the law ; which is further intimated 
by the statement that he was found, — to wit, by the law and justice 
of God, — in the attitude of a man, as toward it; and was obedient 
to the law and the curse until death. So, the prophet writes, 
"By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; 
for he shall bear their iniquities." — Isa. liii. 11. He became a 
servant to the law and the curse, by taking to himself the nature 
of man, which was under their bondage. "He was found 
{crfflfiazt cb$ avdptonoz) in fashion as a man." The word, (ayrjiia), 
fashion, expresses rather condition and attitude, than appearance. 
He was found in the position, as toward the law, which belonged 
to man, subject to its precept, and responsible to, and involved 
in, its curse. And, being thus found by the law, he, as a man, 
bowed in perfect obedience to all its requirements, until it had 
nailed him to the cross, under the curse of man's sin. 

In addition to the reasons already given, there were others, of 
which we shall see more in the sequel, making it requisite that 
the Eedeemer should take a part in our nature. It was neces- 
sary in order to the mystical union, by which he assumed the 
punishment of our sins, and gives us a title in his righteousness, 
as we have seen Paul to declare: — "Forasmuch as the children 
were joint partakers in flesh and blood, he also in the same man- 
ner took part in them, that through death he might destroy him 
that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them 
who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to 
bondage. For verily, he does not take hold of the angels, (or, 
take them to himself,) but he takes the seed of Abraham." — Heb. 
ii. 14-16. This language seems plainly to refer to that assump- 
tion of the seed of Abraham into union with himself, of which 
we shall presently speak. Christ's humanity was necessary, so 
that he might be to us a quickening spirit, by the Holy Ghost 
dwelling in his mediatorial person, and imparted thence; and 
that he might have the feeling of our infirmities, by being in all 






Sect, in.] The Second Adam. 587 

points tempted like as we are; so that Ave might have confidence 
and access with boldness unto the throne of grace. It was ne- 
cessary that, in the very nature, by taking advantage of the 
weakness of which, Satan hoped to defeat the purposes of God, 
the enemy himself should be overthrown. Thus is he put to 
utter confusion and shame, upon his chosen field of anticipated 
triumphs. 

Whilst the Son of God took to himself the nature of man, by 
which the apostasy was wrought, and which lay under the curse 
§ 4. He icas of the apostasy, he did not assume it as apostate. 
without sin. J n taking the human into union with his divine na- 
ture, he received it in perfect holiness and conformity to the law. 
This was a necessary result of the remarkable manner of his 
birth: — "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power 
of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore that holy thing 
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." 
Here the angel attributes the unsullied purity and holiness of 
the child to the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit. The 
hypostatic union of the divine and human natures, in the person 
of the Mediator, was not wrought by the Holy Spirit ; but is im- 
mediate, and consequent upon the immediate power of the Second 
Person of the Godhead taking up the human nature into union 
with his own. Were it otherwise, — were the union one wrought 
by the mediate agency of the Spirit, — the result would be, not 
one person, but two; not a hypostatic, but a relative, union. 
The only office, therefore, which can be attributed to the Holy 
Spirit, in the incarnation of the Son, was the generation of a 
body and soul, out of the human nature of the virgin, free from 
sin: — " Christ the Son of God became man by taking to himself 
a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived, by the power 
of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her sub- 
stance, and born of her, yet without sin."* On this subject, 
Marck, having stated the conveyance of original sin by genera- 
tion, says, "Nor must Christ, therefore, be subject to its guilt; 
not because he never was in Adam, as the Anabaptists and Wei- 
gelians imagine ; since his genealogy is expressly terminated in 

* Larger Catechism, Qu. 87. 



588 The Elolum Revealed. [chap. xx. 

Adam, (Luke iii. 38) ; but, first, because be was not propagated 
from Adam as to bis wbole person, — for, as we commonly say, 
sins are personals, — but only as to bis humanity, and that, mani- 
festly, by an extraordinary and supernatural nativity; where- 
fore, also, he was not tithed in the loins of Levi. (Heb. vii. 9, 
10.) Second, strictly, he was not in Adam when he sinned, be- 
cause he came into the world, not by virtue of the blessing given 
before the fall, — 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the 
earth,' (Gen. i. 28), — but by the special promise, following the 
fall, concerning the seed of the woman, which should bruise the 
head of the serpent. (Gen. iii. 15.)"* 

Whilst it was necessary that the Mediator be thus truly man, 
having a proper communion in our nature, this was not alone 
§ 5. He is the sufficient. No man — no finite being — could perform 
mighty God, t k e wor k to ^ich } ie was ordained: — "Unto us a 
child is born ; unto us a son is given : and the government shall 
be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, "Wonderful, 
Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince 
of Peace." — Isa. ix. 6. Such are the titles by which he is an- 
nounced. And, when he was about to come into the world, he 
is described, by the evangelist, as "Emmanuel, — God with us." 
As to the fact of the divinity of the Saviour of the world, we 
shall not enter into a separate discussion. If the cumulative 
argument, which is presented in the whole doctrine of this work, 
be not conclusive, on this point, we should despair of inducing 
conviction by a special plea. That the Mediator between God 
and apostate man must himself be God, is certain, from every 
light in which the subject can be viewed. To no one function 
of the mediatorial work would any mere creature, even the 
highest, be adequate. Two or three points may for the present 
serve to illustrate the whole. 

It was essential that the Mediator should be superior to and 
independent of the law, in order that, by a voluntary subjection 
to it, he might restore that honour which was taken away by 
man's transgression. This the obedience of no mere creature 
could do. Having done all, the creatures must say, "We have 

* Marckii Medul. Theol., Locus vi. 37. 



sect, iv.] The Second Adam. 589 

done what was our duty to do." But when the eternal Son of 
God, having perfectly obeyed every precept of the law, bows his 
neck to the stroke of its curse, then is its honour more than re- 
stored. It shines with a lustre which it never had before. 

Equally requisite was the divinity of Christ, in order that he 
might have power over his own life. The lives of the creatures 
are gifts of God's goodness, which are merely loaned, to be em- 
ployed at his will and in his service. They have no right either 
to forfeit or surrender them; as, in so doing, they are at- 
tempting to alienate what belongs to God, and so are robbing 
him. And, were this not so, still would they be incompetent to 
acquire any merit available to others, even by the sacrifice of 
life ; since, having done all, they have but done their own duty. 
In order, therefore, that the eternal Priest should have a right to 
give his own life, he must have a supreme and absolute right in 
that life himself, and such an independence of the law that his 
offering shall be gratuitous, and therefore meritorious. 

It was necessary that Christ should be God, as well as man, 
in order that, in the mediatorial person, there should be power 
to meet and exhaust the infinite curse of the law which was 
due to man's sin. This is the reason that, in all the teachings 
of the New Testament, so much significance is attributed to his 
resurrection. Having assumed the punishment of his people's 
sins, and, under it, bowed to the stroke of the curse, it was im- 
possible that he should have risen from the dead until the curse 
thus accepted had exhausted its demands, — until death itself 
expired. And since this could never take place in the person of 
any merely human or created being, the curse being infinite, it 
was necessary that he who undertook such an office should be 
truly divine; and the fact that " Christ both died and rose and 
revived," — inasmuch as it shows him to have worn out and 
abolished death, — proves him to be the Son of God, with power, 
the very power of the infinite God. 

The divinity of the Redeemer was equally requisite to the 
application of his redemption, and to all the ultimate ends for 
which it was undertaken. No one but the Omniscient could 
know his own so that none of them should be lost. None but 



590 .The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

God could have power to send the Holy Spirit to renew, sanctify 
and raise them from the dead. None but the Almighty could 
overcome with utter overthrow Satan and all God's enemies, 
judge the universe, and assign to each their appropriate place 
and portion. 

But we have not yet noticed all the wonderful characteristics 
of the second Adam. The person of Jesus, which embraces thus, 
I 6. Christ' a ^ n an incomprehensible union and identity with the 
body the son of Mary, Him who fills immensity and inhabits 

eternity, comprehends at the same time, in a union 
and identity only less close than this, the whole multitude of his 
chosen people of all ages, whether past or to come. He is the 
head of the body, the church, " the fulness of him that filleth all 
in all."— Eph. i. 23. 

It would be a most unsuitable and defective representation, 
which should describe the human head in such a way as to 
leave out of the account the body with which it is connected, 
and the relations between them; since in these relations 
is the solution of almost every feature of the head. Equally 
inadequate and erroneous is any view of the person of the 
Mediator which fails to comprehend, as essential features of it, 
the church, which is his body, and the union by which they are 
one. To fit him to become the Head of that body, every cha- 
racteristic of his person was designed. And, as thus fitted and 
related, every fact in his history is to be studied, or it will not 
be understood. In no one aspect can the Mediator be viewed 
in which the ignoring of his headship will not mar the concep- 
tion. The significance of every feature is to be sought in his 
church. It is the complement of his own individual person, — 
the fulness which completes and reveals its symmetry. 

The reality and importance of the union, by which Christ and 
his people are one body, is testified in the Scriptures, in many 
places, and illustrated by a variety of figures. Of these, it will 
be sufiicient to notice some of the most frequent and significant. 

1. It is compared to the stones of a building, which are all 
cemented together into one ; and in which Christ is represented 
by the corner-stone, as being that on which all rests secure. 



sect, v.] The Second Adam. 591 

Says the Psalmist, "The stone which the builders refused is 
become the head-stone of the corner;" that is, the chief stone 
of the foundation. — Psalm cxviii. 22. " Thus saith the Lord 
God, Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried 
stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation." — Isa. xxviii. 
16. Hence Peter says, of Christ, " To whom coming, as unto a 
living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and 
precious, ye also as lively stones are built up, a spiritual house, 
a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to 
God, by Jesus Christ." — 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5. And Paul says that the 
saints are " built upon the foundation of the apostles and pro- 
phets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in 
whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy 
temple in the Lord ; in whom ye also are builded together for a 
habitation of God, through the Spirit."— Eph. ii. 20-22. To 
David, the promise was made that his son should build a house 
to the name of God. The spiritual temple ; here described, is 
that house, 

2. Another figure, frequently used to describe the relation of 
Christ and his people, is that of a tree and its branches. " I am 
the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in 
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for severed from me 
ye can do nothing." — John xv. 5. Hence Paul exhorts us, 
"As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; 
rooted and built up in him." — Col. ii. 6, 7. He describes believers 
as " planted together in the likeness of his death," — P^om. vi. 5; 
and represents the whole human race as branches of the one or 
the other, — the wild olive, or the good. — Eom. xi. 17-24. 

3. The union is compared to that of the wife and her husband; 
and of the members of the body; — figures which are essentially 
the same, as is fully illustrated in the argument of Paul, in Eph. 
v. 23-32: — "The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ 
is the Head of the church; and he is the Saviour of the body." 
"So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He 
that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated 
his own flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord 
the church ; for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of 



592 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mo- 
ther, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be 
one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning 
Christ and the church." When God made Eve of a rib from 
the side of Adam, and brought her to him, Adam said, "This 
is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be 
called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore 
shall a man leave his father and his mother," &c. — Gen. ii. 23, 24. 
How intimate the union, of which the apostle speaks, between 
Christ and his people, is evident from the appeal which he makes 
to this original oneness of Adam, and identity of Eve in him. 
This figure, derived from the marriage of the first Adam, is the 
one most commonly used in the Scriptures on the present subject. 
It is the subject of the forty-fifth Psalm. It constitutes the 
theme of one entire book, — The Song of Songs. It recurs con- 
tinually in the prophets and epistles, and sheds a soft and radiant 
beauty on the imagery of the book of the Kev elation ; in which 
are unfolded the glories of the final inheritance of Christ and 
his people, — the second Adam and his Bride. 

4. The unity of Adam and his race is used as another repre- 
sentation of that here spoken of. Of this, the preceding pages 
have presented abundant illustrations. " If any should urge 
that the similitudes of Adam and his seed, and of married 
couples, do make rather for a relative, than a real union, betwixt 
Christ and us ; let them consider that all nations are really made 
of one blood, which was first in Adam, (Acts xvii. 26;) and that 
the first woman was made out of the body of Adam, and was 
really 'bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh.' And by this 
first married couple, the mystical union of Christ and his church 
is eminently resembled. (Gen. ii. 22-24, with Eph. v. 30-32.) 
And yet, it supposeth both these resemblances in the nearness 
and fulness of them, because those that are joined to the Lord 
are not only one flesh, but one spirit, with him."* 

5. The transcendent comparison, which is used on this sub- 
ject, is that of the union of the Father, and the Son, in the 
blessed Godhead. "When seated at the table, the night in which 

* Marshall on Sanctification, Direction iii. 2. 



sect, vi.] The Second Adam. 593 

lie was betrayed, the Saviour engaged in a large discourse with 
his disciples. In his previous public ministry, he had rarely 
and slightly touched upon the eminent dignity of his own person, 
as divine. He now, however, enlarges upon this theme; and in 
so doing states his reason for it. Hitherto he had been with 
them, and had taught them, as they were able to bear it. But 
now, they having gained some degree of strength and maturity, 
and being about to enjoy the gift of the Holy Spirit, he comforts 
them, in view of their coming bereavement, with clear and 
abundant statements as to his own personal dignity, and the 
cause and end of his approaching sufferings. " These things I 
said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you." 
"I have yet many things to say unto you; but ye cannot bear 
them now. Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is come, he 
will guide you into all truth." — John xvi. 4, 12, 13. In this re- 
markable discourse, there are two doctrines, which constitute 
the fundamental basis of the entire communication. The first, 
is that of his own true divinity, — his co-equality and oneness 
with the Father. The second, is the unity of his people with 
him, and his unity with them. These two doctrines, he repre- 
sents as alike true and inseparable ; and upon them, together, he 
founds the precious promises and encouragements which soothed 
and comforted the hearts of his beloved and stricken friends. 
"If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also ; 
and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip 
saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and 
yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me 
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the 
Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the 
Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of 
myself; but the Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me." — 
John xiv. 7-11. With this, compare the words of Jesus to the 
Jews: — "I and my Father are one." "If I do not the works of 
my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not 
me, believe the works ; that ye may know and believe that the 



594 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

Father is in me, and I in him." — John x. 30, 37, 38. Afterward, 
Jesus, having insisted upon the coming and office of the Comforter, 
adds, "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and 
ye in me, and I in you." — John xiv. 20. In the beginning of 
the fifteenth chapter, under the figure of the vine and branches, 
he clearly explains what he means by this inbeing of his people 
in him. As the vital principle of the vine unites the branches 
to it, and imparts to them life, verdure and fruitfulness, — so is 
it between him and them. The Spirit which dwelt in him, im- 
parted to and abiding in them, shall unite them to him, and 
impart to them his knowledge, and lead them in holiness. In 
the subsequent part of the discourse, he cheers their hearts with 
abundant consolations derived from the doctrines thus attested; 
accompanied with corresponding exhortations and admonitions : — 
" Ye now have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart 
shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in 
that day, (ifxk oux ipconjcrsre obdiv,) ye shall not any more ques- 
tion me, [being taught all things by the indwelling Spirit.] 
Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the 
Father, in my name, he will give it you." "At that day ye 
shall ask in my name : and I say not unto you that I will pray 
the Father for you : for the Father himself loveth you, because 
ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God. 
I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world : again, 
I leave the world and go to the Father." "These things have 
I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace." — John 
xvi. 22-33. Thus, the entire discourse rests upon, and recurs 
continually to, the doctrine of his own oneness with the Father, 
and his people's inbeing in him. 

At the close of this discourse, Jesus bears his people to the 
Father's bosom, in that wonderful prayer which John records. 
He prays, "Holy Father, keep, through thine own name, those 
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." 
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall 
believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as 
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one 
in us ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And 



sect, vl] The Second Adam, 595 

the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they 
may be one, even as we are one ; I in them, and thou in me, that 
they may be made perfect in one ; and that the world may know 
that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved 
me."— John xvii. 11, 20-23. 

That our Saviour, in the language quoted from his discourse, 
designed to assert his own supreme divinity, — his nativity, 
equality and oneness with the Father, — will not be questioned 
by any who believe in that divinity. That he, in the same con- 
nection, speaks of a real oneness between him and his people, 
wrought by the engrafting of the Holy Ghost; and that he re- 
presents this doctrine as inseparably associated with the other, 
and correlative to it, is equally obvious. "Ye shall know that 
I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you." That the ex- 
position of these doctrines and their results occupies the entire 
discourse, the most casual inspection will demonstrate. It is 
impossible, therefore, to avoid the conclusion, that, when in his 
prayer he employs the same phraseology, he has in view the 
same things, of which he has just been telling his beloved dis- 
ciples. However far, therefore, the union which subsists be- 
tween Christ and his people may fall short of that between the 
Father and the Son, it is not thought unworthy, by the Son 
himself, to be compared with it. " That they may be one, as we 
are.- — That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and 
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. — That they may be 
one, even as we are one ; I in them, and thou in me, that they 
may be made perfect in one." 

Should it be suggested, that the unity here spoken of is 
merely that of mutual love and sympathy, — the answer is ob- 
vious, Jesus has just before showed his disciples the impossi- 
bilitv of their being able to do anv thing good, without being 
members of him, by a real union. At the same time, he had 
promised them, that he would pray the Father to send them the 
Holy Spirit, by whom that union is wrought. He immediately 
offers the prayer, in which he employs the very words which he 
had just used to describe the real union itself. It is preposter- 
ous to suppose, that, in such circumstances, he means to be un- 



o96 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

derstood as confining his thoughts to the end, to the exclusion 
of the essential means; which he has so magnified, just before. 
Further, even were we to allow that by the oneness, of which 
he speaks in the prayer, is meant mutual love and harmony, yet 
is the means also unequivocally described: — "I in them, — that 
they may be one." 

Whilst the union of the divine nature and the human, and of 
Christ and his church, in the person of the Mediator, constitute 
the two glories of his most glorious person, they are also its two 
great mysteries. " Great is the mystery of godliness, God was 
manifest in the flesh." — 1 Tim. iii. 16. So, says Paul, "This is 
a great mystery. I speak concerning Christ and the church." 
— Eph. v. 32. But, whilst these are equally mysteries, they are 
mysteries, of which, the latter is as unequivocally revealed to 
us as the former. " The mystery which hath been hid from ages 
and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints : 
to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory 
of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is, Christ in you, 
the hope of glory." — Col. i. 26, 27. Here, however, it is proper 
to notice a fact which is illustrated in this language of Paul. 
The common design of the word, mystery, in the Scriptures, is 
to indicate not a necessary inscrutability, but the fact that a 
thing has not been hitherto disclosed. Such is its meaning, as 
used by Paul, respecting the typical relation of Adam and Eve 
to Christ and the church. It is true that the union between 
these is inscrutable, so far as exhaustive comprehension is im- 
plied. But it is no more true of this, than of any other of the 
leading truths of the gospel. The remark applies as fully to 
the doctrine of the Trinity ; to the eternal generation, the proces- 
sion of the Holy Spirit, the incarnation, the very union of the 
soul and body of man. And yet, there is reason to apprehend 
that the arbitrary appropriation of the term, mystical, to this 
alone, of all the doctrines of revelation, has induced or cherished 
a disposition to look upon it as peculiarly incomprehensible, and 
of little practical importance; and thus to work, to a great ex- 
tent, its actual exclusion, in many cases, from a place in the theo- 
logy of the pulpit. The doctrine is, indeed, beyond finite com- 



sect, vi.] The Second Adam. 597 

prehension. But only so, as are all the deep things of God; 
which carnal blindness is indisposed to search, and finite capa- 
city incompetent to measure. "The mystery, — Christ in you 
the hope of glory," Paul declares to have been hid, indeed, from 
ages and generations, but now to be manifested and made known 
to the saints. However incomprehensible, therefore, — this doc- 
trine is both expressly revealed, and clearly defined; and its 
distinct and constant recognition is as essential to correct con- 
ceptions of the way of salvation, as is that of the incarnation 
itself. We shall, therefore, distinctly notice the most important 
points which are brought out on the subject, in the Scriptures. 

1. Christ himself is the efficient author of this union. As, by 
his own power and will, he took to himself our nature, so, in a 
I 7. Nature like manner, he takes us into union with himself. 
of the union. This will be fully illustrated, in what follows; and 
is the great truth, which is set forth, realized and sealed in the 
Lord's supper, in which "the worthy receivers are, not after a 
corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his 
body and blood."* Hence the saying of Jesus, "I am the 
living bread which came down from heaven : if any man eat of this 
bread, he shall live forever : and the bread that I will give is my 
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." — John vi. 51. 
As the bread and wine enter into and assimilate with our bodies, 
so as to become part of them, so, in a spiritual manner, does 
Christ give us his flesh, and works in us a union with him, as 
real as the other, and far more intimate. 

2. The agent of the union is the Holy Spirit, of whom Paul 
says, that "as the body is one, and hath many members, and all 
the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so 
also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
body, . . . and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." — 1 Cor. 
xii. 12, 13. "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ 
have put on Christ. ... Ye are all one in Christ Jesus." — Gal. iii. 
27, 28. Hence, the ordinance of baptism, which by "the washing 
with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ. "f 

* Shorter Catechism, Qu. 96. f Ibid. Qu. 91. 



598 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

One main reason why the Mediator must assume humanity, 
was, in order that his human nature might serve as a temple for 
the Holy Spirit. The idea of the Third Person of the Godhead 
dwelling in the divine nature of the Second, would be utterly 
irreconcilable with a several personality in them. But, when 
the Word was made flesh, in the very act of his incarnation, the 
Spirit was present, procreating, possessing and filling his whole 
humanity. Hence the words of the Baptist: — "The Father 
giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." — John iii. 34. 
Thus was the human nature of the Mediator made the temple 
of abode for the Holy Ghost, — the fountain whence alone he 
ever flows to men, — the medium through which only he is ever 
known, or his power felt, by men. It is in reference to this, 
that the Saviour says to the Jews, " Destroy this temple, and in 
three days I will raise it up. . . . He spake of the temple of his 
body."— John ii. 19-21. For the same reason is the Holy 
Spirit, as the agent of the regeneration and sanctifying of be- 
lievers, called the Spirit of Christ ; and his habitual, controlling 
power, " the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." It is of 
the Spirit, thus dwelling in Christ's person and constituting his 
Spirit, that he speaks in his last address, promising to send him 
to abide with his people forever. He says, "I tell you the 
truth : it is expedient for you that I go away ; for, if I go not 
away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, 
I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will 
reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judg- 
ment." — John xvi. 7, 8. It is needless to dwell on the many 
scriptures which present this same view of the Spirit as 
Christ's Spirit, sent forth by him for the conviction and sal- 
vation of men. After his sufferings and resurrection, Jesus — 
to make known to his disciples how intimately related that 
promised Spirit was to his own person, and how closely they 
would be united to him by that Spirit — appeared to them in the 
upper room, and with the salutation of " Peace !" "he breathed 
on them, and saith unto them, Keceive ye the Holy Ghost." — 
John xx. 22. It is in fulfilment of these great and precious 
promises that the people of God are made "partakers of the 



sect, vii.] The Second Adam. 599 

divine nature." — 2 Pet. i. 4. Having ascended up, and assumed 
the throne, Christ pours, upon his elect, the Spirit from on 
high. (Isa. xxxii. 15 ; compare xliv. 3 ; Joel ii. 28, 29 ; Zech. 
xii. 10 ; Acts ii. 17, 18.) By it, baptized into Christ, they are 
one with him, and complete in him. 

3. The union thus wrought is real, substantial, permanent, 
and most intimate. If that is a real union which incorporates 
the stones in the building, the branches in the vine, or the 
members in the body, — if that is real by which the Father is 
in the Son and the Son in the Father, — then is this also real. 
If the blessed indwelling Spirit is a real subsistence, — his pre- 
sence and his power real and infinite, — then is this, of which he is 
the bond, a union substantial and most intimate. It is more 
close than is any of which we have any knowledge or conception, 
only excepting that of the Persons of the Trinity, and the two 
natures of Christ. If that be an intimate union which, by 
virtue of material continuity, and community in life, blood and 
nervous fluid, identifies the members with the body, how much 
more intimate must this be, which is constituted by the person 
and agency of the almighty and omnipresent Spirit of God 
pervading and possessing every element of our being, and, in a 
like manner, dwelling in our glorious Head, as a uniting bond ! 
" Though Christ be in heaven and we on earth, yet he can join 
our souls and bodies to his, at such a distance, without any sub- 
stantial change of either, by the same infinite Spirit dwelling in 
him and us ; and so our flesh will become his, when it is quick- 
ened by his Spirit, and his flesh ours, as truly as if we did eat 
his flesh and drink his blood ; and he will be in us himself, by 
his Spirit, who is one with him, and who can unite more closely 
to Christ than any material substance can do; or, who can 
make a more close and intimate union between Christ and us. 
And it will not follow hence that a believer is one person with 
Christ, any more than that Christ is one person with the Father 
by that greater mystical union. Neither will a believer be hereby 
made God, but only the temple of God; as Christ's body and 
soul is; and the Spirit's lively instrument, rather than the 
principal cause. Neither will a believer be necessarily perfect 



600 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

in holiness hereby ; or Christ made a sinner : for Christ knoweth 
how to dwell in believers by certain measures and degrees, and 
to make them holy so far only as he dwelleth in them. And 
though this union seem too high a preferment for such unworthy 
creatures as we are ; yet, considering the preciousness of the 
blood of God whereby we are redeemed, we should dishonour 
God if we should not expect a miraculous advancement to the 
highest dignity that creatures are capable of, through the merits 
of that blood."* 

4. The oneness of Christ and his people is mutual. So it is 
expressed by our Saviour : — " Ye in me, and I in you." — John xiv. 
20. And so he illustrates it by his own union with the Father : — 
" As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may 
be one, in us." — John xvii. 21. He first united himself to our 
nature, as man; and then unites us to his own divine nature. 
Thus, by a double tie, are he and his people one. Each of these 
bonds, as we shall elsewhere see in detail, was essential to the 
whole office and work of the Son of Gocl ; and, together, they 
constitute a union more unfathomable in its amazing closeness 
and intimacy than in any thing else. 

In yet another respect is this union mutual. As the Son of 
God unites us to himself, by imparting to us his Holy Spirit and 
engrafting us into his body; so, on the other hand, does he, by 
that indwelling and quickening Spirit, induce in his people an 
apprehension and embrace of him, as their Head and Lord, in 
actings of faith, love and all gracious affections. 

5. A point here to be carefully noticed, is, that, in both aspects 
of this union, the Son of God is the Head of the body; and his 
people are but the dependent members. In uniting his divine 
nature with ours, he performed the work by his own almighty 
power. His omnipotence was the principle of efficiency, and the 
human nature which he assumed was the mere passive subject of 
his wonderful agency. So, in uniting his people to himself, he 
sends forth his Holy Spirit, and works his unsearchable grace 
in them, uniting them to himself. Thus, always, is he the Head. 
He is the efficient cause of all the influences which operate in 

* Marshall on Sanctification. Direction iii. 



sect, vii.] The Second Adam. 601 

the members as such, — the controlling principle of every thing 
which belongs to or characterizes the body. Hence ; he is, in no 
manner nor degree, denied or infected by the corruption and de- 
pravity which were native to the members, whom he incorpo- 
rates into his body. On the contrary, the influences flowing 
from him, the Head, pervading every member, work in them all 
conformity to his likeness, and purging from the old leaven. 
The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, dwelling abundantly in him, 
and imparted freely and continually to them, is the fountain of 
their life, the spring and source of all their affections, and con- 
trolling principle of their actions. 

The glorious person of the second Adam thus constitutes 
a power to bind together heaven and earth, — a power to lay hold 
of base and fallen man, to regenerate and exalt him, and to bear 
him up to the very throne and bosom of God. Nor need we won- 
der at the amazing results, when we observe the agencies which 
were engaged. That behooved to be a perfect work which was 
produced, when the Holy Trinity united in council and agency 
for the creation of Adam, the head of the human race, the 
primal image of God. What a result should we then anticipate, 
when eternal wisdom is expended, and the counsel is established 
by the eternal covenant of the Godhead, sealed by Jehovah's 
oath, to construct and endow a body for Him who dwelleth in the 
unapproachable light, — a body fitted to reveal abroad the Father's 
image as it dwells in the Son, in consummate clearness and 
perfection ; and in which, as an appropriate and eternal temple, 
the blessed Spirit should forever dwell and exercise his power. 

In the performance of such a work, whether we view it as 
having respect to his own individual person merely, or as in- 
cluding his body the church, each person of the Godhead is 
employed. When the Son says to the Father, "A body hast 
thou prepared me," — Heb. x. 5, — the language applies, not only 
to that holy thing which was conceived of the virgin, but to that 
whole body which is composed of the redeemed, who were made 
by the Father's hand, given to the Son by the Father's love, 
and united to him by the Spirit of the Father, dwelling in all 
fulness in both. The Son both took to himself his personal 



602 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

body, by an act of his own power, and unites to himself, by his 
own omnipotent will, all those whom the Father has given him, 
as members of his body and sharers of his glory. And the 
blessed Spirit of grace is alike the principle of his generation in 
the womb of the virgin, and of the regeneration, by which his 
body is builded up, through the accession of each chosen mem- 
ber, until the whole shall be complete. 

Thus has it pleased the Father, that in Jesus should all 
fulness dwell. In him is all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, 
§ 8. Thus, in — the Father shining in him as his own perfect and 
Mm all fulness, express image, — the Son himself incarnate in the 
child of Mary, — and the Spirit, in all his measureless power and 
grace, making him his temple and abode. In him is all the ful- 
ness of man regenerate and saved. The whole company of the 
elect is complete in him, and constitutes the counterpart fulness 
of Him that filleth all in all. 

Nor does it need that he, as we must, should await the clay 
of consummation to realize that fulness, and enjoy the perfection 
of his work, — the harmonious beauty of his perfected body. 
"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever," — 
Heb. xiii. 8, — he who could say, in the days of his flesh, " Before 
Abraham was, I am," — John viii. 58, — can equally say, "Even to 
everlasting, I am." He is " the Alpha and Omega," who testifies : — 
"lam the first and the last ; I am he that liveth and was dead ; 
and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen." — Kev. i. 17, 18. 
"His name shall be called The Father of Ages." — Isa. ix. 6. 
The present life which he possesses is eternity. The habitation 
in which he dwells is eternity. From his will and wisdom flow 
the fleeting periods of our passing days ; but to him they bring 
no vicissitude. To him, therefore, the whole work of his grace 
is now as fully present as it will be when his saints shall see him 
in his beauty, in the land that is very far off. Before the found- 
ations of the earth were laid, he rejoiced in its habitable parts, 
and delighted in the sons of men. And when the body shall at 
last be complete, and the topstone of the temple brought home 
to its place, it will only be the discovery, to the capacities of 
the creatures, of a work and a glory which has been forever 



sect, vii.] The Second Adam. 603 

present, and realized in all its parts and proportions, in its pro- 
gress and completion, by the incomprehensible and eternal Son 
of God. 

To our dark and carnal apprehensions, it may seem strange 
and inconceivable that there should be any beauty or glory shed 
upon the person or character of Christ, by the assumption to 
himself of such a body as we have here described. But the very 
unfitness of the material only renders the more wonderful the re- 
sult, and magnifies the honour of Him by whom it is wrought. 
No vision so glorious shall ever be witnessed by the hosts of 
heaven, as that revealed in the marriage of the Lamb. No per- 
sonage so altogether lovely as the King in his beauty, and his 
queen all glorious within, and arrayed in gold of Ophir. No 
theme is so worthy of the highest strains of heaven's harps, as 
the wisdom and the condescension, the power and the grace, dis- 
played by Immanuel, in espousing the daughter of Egypt, and 
making her worthy of his love. No revelation of the ineffable 
glories of God will compare to that which consists in the person 
and the work, the origin and the inheritance, of that mystical 
person, the Second Adam, and his body, the church. 

In this discussion, we have looked upon the person of the 
Mediator chiefly in the light of our necessities, and his fitness to 
perform the work of salvation for us. But there is a higher 
point from which the whole subject is to be viewed. The plan 
of salvation is the most signal and crowning feature in the whole 
scheme for the revelation of God. In it are seen blending in 
harmonious beauty, and unfolding in boundless and inconceivable 
majesty and glory, the whole riches of the perfections of the 
blessed Three, the ineffable One. It has already appeared, that, 
by the eternal covenant, the Son was ordained the Eevealer ; 
and that the design of grace was formed, and the plan of grace 
devised, for the purpose of providing means for the revelation 
of God to the creatures. It belongs, therefore, to the preroga- 
tive of the Son, not only by nature, but by covenant, also, to be 
the Mediator, — and, as such, God-man, — through whom the sal- 
vation is bestowed on man ; since that salvation constitutes the 
means of a display, so glorious, of the divine nature and perfec- 



604 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xx. 

tions. In his own essential nature, lie was the brightness of 
the Father's glory, and express image of his person. But in 
this nature, he, the Eevealer, is himself concealed. Although 
the Creator's glory was displayed in his works, — although the 
Father was discovered in the things which he made by the hands 
of the Son, — yet was the Son, in all this, as unsearchable as was 
the Father. He was the blessed and only Potentate, " dwelling 
in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man 
hath seen, nor can see." — 1 Tim. vi. 16. If the Shechinah de- 
clared his presence, it was as the Invisible ; and it is only in the 
flesh that God is manifested, — seen of angels. He, thus, so per- 
fect a likeness of the Father as to be absolutely one in essence 
and glory with him, condescends to render that glory visible by 
assuming the form and nature of a creature. " The Word was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us," says John, " and we beheld 
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." — 
John i. 14. He was made flesh by becoming one of that race 
who were in their creation ordained the image of God, — whose 
whole nature was constructed by the divine wisdom, not only 
as in itself a wonderful irradiation of God's glory, but with spe- 
cific reference to the purposed incarnation of the Mediator, 
and incorporation of the elect in his body. And when the Son 
says to the Father, " A body hast thou prepared me," the de- 
claration is not only true respecting the body of his flesh, as born 
of the virgin, but true as implying the council and decree by 
which Adam was created to have contemplated the providing of 
a fitting nature for the second Adam ; by the assumption of which 
the Son might reveal, in otherwise unapproachable clearness, 
the mystery of God's glory. Thus, whilst the divine nature 
of the Son is the very outshining and counterpart of the Father's 
person, his human nature constituted the nearest likeness of God 
which creature could possess; and at the same time was the 
most fitting instrument, as head of his body the Church, for the 
disclosing of the divine perfections ; — a glass through which the 
glory of the Highest pours its concentrated rays in a flood of 
radiance, which fills the universe with light, and all holy beings 
with adoring wonder, joy and praise. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Christ's obedience to the law. 

The one word, obedience, expresses the wbole work of Christ, 
in atoning for bis people, and acquiring for them freedom from 
I l. Chrises sin and the curse, and a title to eternal life. It so 
obedience vo- expresses his work, moreover, as to show it to have 

tanj ' been in fulfilment of the requirements of the law; 

which he obeyed, satisfying its claims, both penal and preceptive, 
in the terms which that law defined. He thus provided a right- 
eousness whereby God may "be just, and the justifier of him 
which believeth in Jesus." — Eom. iii. 26. 

In order to Christ's being held responsible to the law, for the 
accomplishment of his atoning work, it was necessary that he 
should freely and voluntarily place himself under its authority, 
in such manner that its claims should, without any arbitrary 
construction, but spontaneously and of right, come upon him; 
so that, not only should justice be entitled to make demand of 
him, but be bound to accept satisfaction at his hand. That 
Christ, even as to his mediatorial humanity, was not bound 
under the law, by any natural necessity, we have already seen. 
The absolute necessity of spontaneity in his sufferings is abun- 
dantly demonstrable. To imagine him to have unwillingly borne 
any part of those pangs with which he was afflicted, involves us 
in one of two conclusions. Either those sufferings were con- 
trary to justice, — which is every way absurd and blasphemous; 
or, the soul of the Redeemer did not acquiesce in the demands 
of justice. In that case, his work, so far from atoning for the 
sins of others, would itself need atonement, — which it is blas- 
phemy to imagine. To suppose him to have endured reluctantly 
any thing, is to attribute to the law an essential authority over 

605 



606 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

him, irrespective of his will. This is, to deny him to have 
humbled himself by obedience ; since obedience was, in that 
case, due. It is, to deny him to have magnified the law and 
made it honourable ; since that cannot be done by an obedience 
to which the law had a native right. Further, it would render 
his salvation altogether empty and futile ; since such an authority 
of the law, being essential and irrespective of his consent, must 
be of perpetual obligation; and therefore can never be finally 
satisfied. In short, to question the entire and cordial acqui- 
escence of the Mediator in bearing the curse, involves an im- 
peachment of his fidelity to that eternal covenant under the 
terms of which he endured the cross. This is the argument to 
which he himself appeals: — "How then shall the Scriptures be 
fulfilled, that thus it must be?"— Matt, xxvi. 54. "0 fools, and 
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken : ought 
not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his 
glory?" — Luke xxiv. 25, 26. The only necessity involved in the 
case, was the moral necessity, — if even that be not a misuse of 
language, — that the unchangeable Son of God should be unchange- 
ably himself; that he who, with every condition, and the whole 
result, fully present to his eternal mind, had undertaken the 
work of salvation, should finish freely, what freely he began. 
"For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, 
despising the shame." — Heb. xii. 2. That joy consisted, as we 
have formerly seen, in four things : — the salvation of his people, 
the overthrow and destruction of his enemies, the exaltation and 
glory of his mediatorial person, and, as the crown and end of all, 
the revelation and honour of the blessed Trinity. To imagine 
the Son of God to have been, in the slightest thought or deed, 
faithless to such objects as these, were a blasphemous contradic- 
tion in terms. 

It is to be considered how Jesus assumed the place of his 
people at the tribunal of the law. For it was not enough that 
„ „ „ T he should obey. His obedience must sustain such 

§ 2. How he J 

came under a relation to them as to be acceptable by justice on 
the curse. their account. It is not sufficient that he should 

suffer. He must meet and exhaust the very curse which was 



sect, i.] Christ's Obedience to the Lata. 607 

launched against them. His position must be such that justice, 
in searching for the transgressors, shall find him in such a rela- 
tion to them as to render him the party responsible to its curse 
for their sins. Here is no room for a mere arbitrary interposi- 
tion. If the law do not find him responsible, it cannot be satis- 
fied by any obedience he may perform, or suffering he may en- 
dure. Justice and truth must meet together, in the atoning 
work. Unless Christ occupied such a relation to the sins of his 
people that they may, in some proper sense, be called his sins, 
they cannot be imputed to him, nor punished in him. His posi- 
tion must be such that he shall be " numbered with the trans- 
gressors." — Isa. liii. 12. What has been presented, on the sub- 
ject of the union of Christ and his people, suggests the solution, 
which the wisdom and love of God have devised, for the problem 
here suggested. It was not in his individual capacity, as a man, 
that Jesus stood at the tribunal; — but in that relation, a recog- 
nition of which we have seen to be essential to a complete con- 
ception of his person and position, — as head of that body the 
church, which Paul so remarkably represents as all compre- 
hended in his name: — "As the body is one, and hath many 
members, and all the members of that one body, being many, 
are one body, so also is Christ." — 1 Cor. xii. 12. Inasmuch as 
he has condescended to become their head, he, in so doing, makes 
himself responsible for his members, at the bar of justice. So 
says Owen, "The principal foundation hereof is, that Christ 
and the church, in this design, were one mystical person, which 
state they do actually coalesce in, through the uniting efficacy 
of the Holy Spirit. He is the Head, and believers are the mem- 
bers of that one person; as the apostle declares, 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13. 
Hence, as what he did is imputed unto them, as if done by them, 
so what they deserved on the account of sin was charged upon 
him." "That our sins were transferred unto Christ, and made 
his ; that thereon he underwent the punishment that was due 
unto us for them; and that the ground hereof, whereinto its 
equity is resolved, is the union between him and us," this emi- 
nent divine shows to have been the common faith of the church, 



608 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

by appeal to many witnesses.* The reason and propriety of the 
proceeding is obvious. The several and individual personality, 
which natively belonged to Christ's people, being, at the bar of 
justice, merged in that higher identity, by which they are mem- 
bers of his body, of one Spirit with him, and pervaded by one 
life, it follows of necessity that any responsibilities to which 
they may have been previously subject, are transferred to him 
their Head. This does not imply that there is any such con- 
founding of identity, as that the sins of the members become, in 
the same sense, the sins of the Head; or, in any sense which 
would imply the infusion of the turpitude of sin into him who 
knew no sin. But, in uniting them to himself, Christ finds in 
his people sin, on account of which, they are not only infected 
with turpitude, but indebted to justice. By making them mem- 
bers of his person, he, by the power of his Spirit, purges the 
turpitude and destroys the sin; whilst, at the same time, he be- 
comes responsible to the law for the penalty already incurred; 
and that, for the reason, that law and justice, in all cases, pass 
by the members, and hold the head responsible. Thus, a king- 
dom or sovereignty, which incorporates a foreign province into 
itself, in so doing, becomes responsible for any obligations pre- 
viously incurred by the acquired territory; although it may not 
at all admit any intrinsic moral communion or participation in 
the facts by which those responsibilities were incurred. On the 
contrary, itself becomes the fountain of influence; and, thence- 
forth, both infuses its own intrinsic character into the new pos- 
session, and is of itself the exponent of the whole, in all ex- 
ternal interests and relations. 

The history of Christ's undertaking such a relation is beauti- 
fully stated by Boston: — " First, The Father designed a certain 
number of lost mankind, as it were, by name, to be the consti- 
tuent members of that body chosen to life, of which body Christ 
was the designed Head; and he gave them to him for that end. 
Phil. iv. 3 : — ' My fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book 
of life.' John xvii. 6: — 'Thine they were, and thou gavest 
them me.' These were a chosen company, whom sovereign 

* Owen on Justification, ch. viii. Board of Pub., p. 198. 



sect, ii.] Christ's Obedience to the Laic. 609 

free grace picked out from among the rest of mankind, on a 
purpose of love, and gave to the second Adam for a seed. 
On which account they are said to have been 'chosen in him/ 
— Eph. i. 4; being, in the decree of election, laid upon him as 
the foundation stone, to be built upon him, and 'obtain salva- 
tion by him.' — 1 Thess. v. 9. Which decree, as it relates to the 
members elect, is therefore called 'The Book of Life;' being, as it 
were, the roll which the Father gave to the second Adam, the 
Head elect, containing the names of these designed to be his 
seed, to receive life by him. 

" rTow, our Lord Jesus, standing as second Adam, Head of the 
election, to wit : such as sovereign pleasure should pitch upon 
to be vessels of mercy, did accept of the gift of the particular 
persons elected or chosen by his Father. John xvii. 6 : — ' Thine 
they were, and thou gavest them me.' Verse 10: — 'And thine 
are mine.' Like as the first Adam, in the making of the first 
covenant, stood alone, without actual issue ; yet had destinated 
for him a numerous issue, to be comprehended with him in that 
covenant, to wit; all mankind; the which, Adam did at least, 
virtually accept; so, a certain number of lost mankind being, 
elected to life, God, as their original proprietor, gave them to 
Christ, the appointed Head, to be his members, and comprehended 
with him in the second covenant, though as yet none of them 
were in being ; and he accepted of the gift of them, being well 
pleased to take them in particular for his body mystical, for 
which he should covenant with his Father. And in token 
thereof, he, as it were, received and kept as his own the Book 
of Life containing their names, which is therefore called 'The 
Lamb's book of Life.' — Bev. xxi. 27."* 

This acceptance of the elect, by the Mediator, was not only an 
acceptance of them as vessels of honour to him and stars in his 
crown ; but, as they were bound under the curse and held in the 
power of sin. If he take them as his, it must be with the encum- 
brance of their burdens, the responsibility of their sins. Before 
he can place them as partners on his throne, or set them as jewels 
in his diadem, he must satisfy the lien that was upon them at 

* Boston on the Covenant of Graee-. Head ii. 
39 



610 The EloJihn Revealed. chap. xxi. 

the bar of God's justice, and free them from the bondage of de- 
pravity in which they were held. This the Son of God under- 
took. Making them one with himself, he, by this means, acquired 
a right to answer to their names; and, being thus found, by 
justice, in their place at the bar, and not only claiming them as 
his own, but showing them to be, in fact, members of his own 
body, it only remained that justice enforce its demand against 
this glorious Surety, who thus exalts its dignity and honours its 
claims by humbling himself to answer at its tribunal. 

In order to the effect of the economy thus described, it was a 
matter entirely unimportant that the elect were as yet not all 
\ 3. He satis- actually in Christ. As already mentioned, the entire 
fied for Ms transaction was between parties to whom the transi- 
members. ^ Qn an( ^ c k an g e f time, and vanishing scenes and 

circumstance, are unknown. The eternal Judge, at whose tri- 
bunal the Head of the elect appeared to answer, saw in him, from 
everlasting, all those whom he will at length receive into union 
with himself; and for them, as thus in him, he transacted, as 
well in the eternal covenant itself, as in the days of his flesh, 
whilst bearing for them the curse. That it was for the elect, as 
thus related to Christ, — as being the members of his body, — that 
he undertook and endured the curse, the testimony of the Scrip- 
tures is abundant and unequivocal. Thus, Paul says that " Christ 
is the head of the church; and he is the Saviour of the body;" 
and that he " loved the church, and gave himself for it, . . . for 
we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones." — 
Eph. v. 23-30. He represents Christ's afflictions as borne "for 
his body's sake, the church." — Col. i. 24. To the same effect 
are those numerous places which represent the people of God to 
have communion in Christ's atoning work, by virtue of member- 
ship in him. Thus, Eom. vi. 3-8, "Know ye not that so many 
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his 
death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into 
death, .that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of 
life. For if we have been planted together with him, (ouynpuroi 
ys,ybvqi±zv, if we have a common growth with him, as the graft 



sect, ii.] Christ s Obedience to the Law. 611 

has with the stock,) in the likeness of his death, we shall be also 
in the likeness of his resurrection : knowing this, that our old man 
is crucified with him, {cruvearau^codrj, is concrucified.) . . . .Now 
if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with 
him." Again, he tells the Corinthians, that "if one died for 
all, then (of ndvrsQ dnidavov) all are dead," — 2 Cor. v. 14; and, 
to the Galatians, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live: 
yet not I, bat Christ liveth in me." — Gal. ii. 20. In the epistle 
to the Colossians we have another remarkable passage to our pre- 
sent purpose, — Col. ii. 6-20: — "As ye have therefore received 
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him : rooted and built up 
in him, and stablished in the faith. . . . For in him dwelleth 
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in 
him, which is the head of all principality and power : in whom 
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without 
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the cir- 
cumcision of Christ : buried with him in baptism, wherein also 
ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, 
who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in 
your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quick- 
ened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses ; blot- 
ting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, 
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing 
it to his cross. . . . Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from 
the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, 
are ye subject to ordinances?" We might multiply citations to 
the same effect. In these places, the fundamental principle of 
the apostle's doctrine is, that "by one Spirit are we all baptized 
into one body, — the body of Christ,"— 1 Cor. xii. 13, 27; that "as 
many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." 
— Gal. iii. 27. By virtue of this baptism engrafting us into 
Christ, we are one with him, and have communion in all that he 
did in making atonement for us. We are circumcised with him; 
we are crucified with him ; we died and were buried with him ; 
with him we are quickened and rise, and with him take posses- 
sion of eternal life. It was not he whom, on the cross, God's 
justice assailed. But the old man which was in his members 



612 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

was pierced by the nails which entered his hands and feet; and 
whilst, by Koman hands, the superscription appropriate to him 
individually was written, — "The King of the Jews," — God's 
justice affixed, as the charge under which he was condemned, 
and ground of his death, " the handwriting that was against us." 
That inscription reads, "The Sin of the Wokld." But, if it be 
so, that our sins were nailed to the cross, and we died in Christ's 
death because we are members of Christ in his dying, as all these 
places testify, and if it be true that our sins, thus laid upon him, 
were the only cause of his death, it follows, as an equivalent pro- 
position, that he was accused of our sins, and died for them, as 
being the sins of those who were in him, — his members; for 
which, as such, he was, therefore, responsible : — "The Lord hath 
laid on him the iniquity of us all," — Isa. liii. 6; not by an arbi- 
trary transfer ; but by the bestowal of us upon him, and our en- 
grafting in him as his members. The same doctrine is expressed 
by Isaiah in another figure: — "He shall see his seed. . . . He 
shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." — Isa. 
liii. 10, 11. His atoning sorrows were the birth-pangs endured 
for his people as his seed, — as the very fruit of his own body. 

This doctrine is very strikingly and tenderly set forth in the 
Lord's supper: — "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not 
the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we 
break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? For we 
being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all par- 
takers of that one bread." — 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. Because, by faith, 
we, in partaking of the bread, receive Christ himself, we are one 
body with that crucified one, of whom the broken bread is the 
sacrament ; one with him in his crucifixion, and he one with us, 
and, therefore, for our sins crucified. 

We have entirely disregarded the interpretation, which sup- 
poses some of the passages quoted above to have respect to the 
form of baptism ; as though resembling a burial. This interpreta- 
tion is inconsistent with the mode of Christ's sepulture ; with the 
scope of the passages, the analogy of the other places quoted, and 
the scriptural meaning and design of the ordinance of bap- 
tism ; which is the sign and seal of the outpouring of the Spirit, 



sect, in.] Christ's Obedience to the Law. 613 

by which we are united to Christ. (See Acts i. 5, and ii. 2-4, 
17, 18. Compare 1 Cor. xii. 13, 27; Gal. iii. 27.) In fact, the 
interpretation to which we allude would seem to have been in- 
vented, for the purpose of mocking the people of Christ with 
husks, whilst the bread of heaven is withheld. By it, the pre- 
cious meaning of the baptism into Christ is utterly lost. 

The point next demanding attention is, the nature and extent 
of that obedience which, in the capacity thus assumed, the Son 
§ 4. He obeyed of God rendered to the law. According to the testi- 
the precept. mony of Paul, he was "made under the law, to 
redeem them that were under the law." — Gal. iv. 4, 5. In this 
language, the phrase "under the law," as applied to Christ's 
people, comprehends, it must be evident, the whole extent of 
their responsibility at the bar of justice, under the provisions of 
law. To this, the apostle appeals, as the reason and measure 
of Christ's subordination. It cannot be questioned, that the 
phrase, "under the law," as applied severally to Christ and to 
his people, has precisely the same dimension. Because they were 
held in the bonds of the law, he submitted himself to those bonds, 
that they might have release. Whatever, therefore, was implied 
in the fact that they were under the law, whether of obligation 
to its precept or of responsibility to its curse, is equally implied 
in his being under it. He assumed all their debts, in order to 
gain them for himself. The same idea is conveyed, in the state- 
ment, that "being found in fashion as a man, he humbled him- 
self, and became obedient, until death." — Phil. ii. 8. Here, his 
position as being in the attitude or condition of a man, that is, 
"in the form or nature of a servant" to the law, as the preceding 
verse describes him, is stated, as the ground upon which he was 
held to obedience, in his life, and to death at last. His obe- 
dience, then, was the obedience of a man, — such as was due from 
man, whom he came to save. 

That the righteousness, which Christ wrought, on behalf of his 
people, was a full satisfaction to the law, in its own terms, is 
demonstrated by the fact that he himself made the law the rule 
and standard of his action, both in respect to his obedience and 
sufferings. What he did, was what the law required ; and what 



614 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

he submitted to endure, was what the law imposed. Thus, in 
respect to his entire mission and work, he says, in the fortieth 
Psalm, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of 
me, I delight to do thy will, my God: yea, thy law is within 
my "heart." — Psalm xl. 7, 8. Here, he declares the purpose of 
his coming to earth to be, the doing of God's will; of which, he 
recognises the law, as the exponent. So, when about to enter on 
his ministry, he applied to John to be admitted to that baptism 
of repentance for the remission of sins, which John preached. 
Certainly, so far as he individually was concerned, he needed no 
such baptism. He knew no sin. And, so viewing the matter, 
John exclaims, "I have need to be baptized of thee; and comest 
thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to 
be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." — 
Matt. iii. 14, 15. Thus does he declare it to be requisite to that 
righteousness, which he came to work, not only to comply with 
the ordinary routine of the Mosaic ritual, but to perform such 
special acts of observance as were due from a believing Israelite. 
Again, in the sermon on the Mount, he says, " Think not that 
I am come to destroy the law or the prophets : I am not come 
to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven 
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from 
the law, till all be fulfilled."— Matt. v. 17, 18. And, lest any 
should cavil as to the meaning of the phraseology employed, 
respecting the law and the prophets, he immediately adds, 
" Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least command- 
ments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the 
kingdom of heaven ; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the 
same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say 
unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the right- 
eousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into 
the kingdom of heaven." — vs. 19, 20. From this text, he pro- 
ceeds at large to expound the spirituality of the law of God, as 
contrasted with the ceremonial observances of the Pharisees. 
Of them, he says, in another place, "Woe unto you, scribes 
and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise 
and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, 



sect, iv.] Christ's Obedience to the Lav:. 61c 

judgment, mercy and faith: these ought ye to have done, and 
not to leave the other undone.'" — Matt, xxiii. 23. Such, then, is 
Christ's own statement of the nature and extent of that law 
which he came to fulfil. It was the law of God, as made known 
to Israel, including all its burdensome observances, and all its 
spiritual precepts. In him, every jot and tittle is fulfilled. To 
fulfil all, he came. 

The arguments already presented, cover, in fact, Christ's obe- 
dience to the curse of the law, as much as to the precept ; since 
\ 5. He bore the latter is an essential part of the law, as well as 
the curse. the other. Of the many testimonies of the Scrip- 

tures which expressly assert Christ's sufferings to have been 
prescribed by the law, we will cite a few examples. In the 
epistle to the Galatians, Paul, having recited the penal sanction 
of the law, — " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all 
things which are written in the book of the law, to do them," — 
then states that " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the 
law, being made a curse {imep fjpj&v) in place of us." — Gal. iii. 
13. Here, that of which the apostle speaks is clearly defined. 
It is that legal curse of which he says, " As many as are of the 
works of the law are under the curse ; for it is written, cursed is 
every one," &c. It is that curse, under which, by nature, and by 
transgression, Christ's people lay. Of it Paul says, that ''he 
hath redeemed us from it." The means of our redemption, he 
states. The Redeemer hath been "made a curse for us," — in 
our stead. That, therefore, which Christ bore was the penalty 
of the law due to our sins. The law denounced a curse. He 
endured it. That such was the nature of his sufferings, more- 
over, Paul shows to have been ceremonially intimated by that 
overruling Providence, according to which Jesus expired on the 
cross. By the Mosaic law, he who was hanged on a tree was 
held to be accursed, as being rejected from off the earth, and 
devoted to the wrath of heaven. The design of this provision 
is seen in the Son of God, thus proclaimed to earth and heaven 
to be a curse for the sins of men. The language here used to 
express the burden which was laid upon the Redeemer, is the 
strongest and most forcible which it is possible to employ for the 



616 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

purpose of representing the whole boundless tide of God's infinite 
indignation. In the Old Testament, it is the habitual expression 
for the climax of exhausted patience and outpouring wrath. 
" Therefore," says Jeremiah, " is your land a desolation, and an 
astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant." — Jer. xliv. 22. 
" I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall 
become a desolation, a reproach, a waste and a curse; and all 
the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes." — Jer. xlix. 13. No 
Scripture usage is more fixed and determinate than that by 
which the phrase, "to make a curse," is defined to mean, the in- 
fliction, on the subject, of God's ultimate and unmitigated wrath. 
To the same conclusion which we have already attained re- 
specting the legal nature of Christ's sufferings, are we compelled, 
by all those scriptures which speak of him as suffering " for," or, 
" instead of," us. Our stand was under the law's curse. If he 
really suffered in our place, he suffered what was due from us. 
" He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our 
iniquities. . . . The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 
. . . For the transgression of my people was he stricken. . . . Thou 
shalt make his soul an offering for sin. . . . He hath poured out 
his soul unto death ; and he was numbered with the transgres- 
sors ; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for 
the transgressors." — Isa. liii. 5-12. " The bread that I will give 
is my flesh, which I will give (uzkp) in stead of the life of the 
world." — John vi. 51. "I delivered unto you first of all that 
which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, accord- 
ing to the Scriptures." — 1 Cor. xv. 3. " Who his own self bare 
our sins in his own body on the tree." — 1 Peter ii. 24. But it is 
needless to multiply citations on this point, respecting which the 
Scriptures are so full. One additional place will be enough, 
with the remarks upon it of a writer who certainly is not open 
to the charge of prejudice in favour of the doctrine. Says Mr. 
Barnes, " One of the words which properly denote in place of, 
or in stead of, in the sense of substitution, is the Greek d.vrl 
(anti). That this word denotes substitution, or, in the place of, 
is apparent from these passages : — Matt. ii. 22 : — ' In the room 
(dure) of his father Herod.' Matt, v. 38 :— ' An eye for (dure) an 



sect, v.] Christ's Obedience to the Laic. 617 

eye, and a tooth for (dpze) a tooth.' Luke* xi. 11: — c If he ask 
a fish, will he for (dure) a fish give him a serpent ?' James iv. 
15 : — l For (dure) that/ that is ; instead of that, ' ye ought to 
say.' Yet this word is used by the Redeemer in explaining 
the object for which he came into the world, — Matt. xx. 28 : — 
' Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but 
to minister, and to give his life a ransom for (dure) many;' that 
is, his life was a ransom, {Xuvpov), in the place of the many. 
There is no word in the Greek language which would more 
naturally convey the idea of a substitution than this. There is 
none which a writer, intending to express the thought that one 
did any thing in the place of another, would more naturally 
employ." After similar criticism upon the word, b-ko, and 
many citations illustrating its use to express the substitution 
of Christ at the bar of justice in the room of his people, Mr. 
Barnes proceeds to say : — 

" These passages undoubtedly express the idea of substitution. 
The language is such as a Greek would use if he wished to con- 
vey that idea. He could find no better terms in his own copious 
language to express that thought ; and, if this language does 
not convey the idea, then it is impossible to express so plain a 
thought in human language. Those who believe the doctrine 
of substitution, or the doctrine that Christ died in the place of 
sinners, have no plainer words by which to express their belief 
than those which are employed in these passages of the Xew 
Testament ; and why should it not be supposed that language 
in the Bible equally explicit and apparently unambiguous, — lan- 
guage which men now themselves employ as best adapted to 
convey their meaning, — should express, as it seems to, the same 
idea ? Is it impossible for God to convey so plain a thought to 
mankind as that He whom he sent into the world died as a sub- 
stitute for sinners, or that his death was in their stead ? And, 
if he meant to do this, could even he find human language which 
would convey the doctrine more clearly ? And would he em- 
ploy language commonly used to denote the idea of substitution, 
unless that was the true doctrine?"* 



* Barnes on the Atonement, pp. 284, 287. 



618 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

The argument thus presented is sound and conclusive. No 
ingenuity can evade the conclusion that Christ suffered and died, 
1 6. Mr. Barnes' in the place of his people, at the bar of justice. 
doctrine. Perhaps the reader imagines this to be the doc- 

trine of the writer here quoted. But such is not the case. 
After having asserted and demonstrated the doctrine, he pro- 
ceeds at once to cut it up by the roots; retaining, indeed, the 
name, but utterly destroying the thing. "The third point," 
says Mr. B., " necessary to be established, is, that the sufferings 
of the Pvedeemer were substituted sufferings, or that they were 
not the real and literal penalty of the law. This differs from 
the point which has just been considered. That was, that he 
himself was a substitute, or that he took the place of sinners, 
and died in their stead; that is, it was not the person who had 
violated the law who suffered, but another in his place. The 
point now to be established is, that the sufferings themselves 
were substituted sufferings, or that they were not the real and 
literal penalty of the law, but were in the place of that penalty, 
and were designed to answer the same end."* 

In the position thus stated by Mr. Barnes, and the arguments 
by which he attempts to establish it, the very essence of the 
atonement is at stake. It demands, therefore, deliberate consi- 
deration. The first point to be noticed is, that this doctrine is 
formally contradictory to that just before established. He has 
just proved, by the abundant and unequivocal testimony of the 
Scriptures, that Christ stood in our place, — that he was our sub- 
stitute at the bar, and suffered and died in our stead. "He 
whom God sent into the world died as a substitute for sinners, 
... his death was in their stead. "f "In securing this reconcilia- 
tion, Christ was properly a substitute in the place of sinners. 
A substitute is ' one person put in the place of another, to answer 
the same purpose.' — Webster. The idea is, that the person sub- 
stituted is to do or suffer the same thing which the person for 
whom he is substituted would have done. "J Such is the doc- 
trine of the Bible, as set forth by our author, himself. But, to 
come into our place, — to stand in our stead, — to be a substitute 
* Barnes on the Atonement, p. 288. f Ibid. 287. % Ibid. p. 281. 



sect, vi.] Christ's Obedience to the Laic. 619 

for us ; does not mean, to fill a place different from that which 
we occupied. Our place was at the bar of the law, condemned 
by its justice, and doomed under its curse. If Christ came into 
our place, that must have been the place which he filled, — at 
the bar, under the curse. And, that such was his position, we 
have seen the Scriptures to assert, in detail. Mr. Barnes' sys- 
tem is, indeed, one of substitution ; not that substitution which 
the Scriptures proclaim, — that of Christ in the place of sinners; 
but, of another system, instead of that in which God's law and 
justice preside. An illustration which is cited by Mr. Barnes 
will assist to make this plain. "A nation is threatened with 
invasion. The inhabitants of a certain district are assembled, 
and a draft is made of a certain proportion, to constitute a mili- 
tary force to repel the invader. "When one is drawn to serve 
in the army, instead of going himself, he is permitted to employ, 
at his own expense, another, who shall be equally able-bodied, 
and equally skilled in the art of war. He who is thus volun- 
tarily substituted, in the place of him that was drafted to per- 
form the service, goes forth in his stead, to do what he was to do, 
to suffer what he would have suffered, to encounter the danger 
which he would have encountered."* A substitute, then, Mr. 
Barnes being witness, is one who fills the very place of him in 
whose stead he stands; — he must perform his very duties, and 
bear his responsibilities. Should a drafted man propose to fur- 
nish a substitute, but upon inquiry it should appear that, instead 
of serving in his place, the substitute was expected to have ex- 
emption from military duty, in consideration of the performance 
of some civil service, all would see the absurdity of using the 
word in such a way, — of calling this a substitution. 

In the defence of the country, a different mode may be adopted, 
instead of that at first proposed. An organization of volun- 
teers may be substituted for the forced draft; or, a levy en masse 
instead of a partial draft. Thus, one system may be substituted 
for another; provided it is designed to accomplish the same 
object. And it is perfectly legitimate, in opposers of our doc- 
trine, to attempt, if they can, to show, that, instead of satisfac- 

* Barnes on the Atonement, p. 281. 



620 The Elohim Revealed, [chap. xxt. 

tion to the violated law, God has devised and carried into effect 
some other system for the salvation of man. But it is not legi- 
timate, nor justifiable, to pretend to hold Christ to have been our 
substitute in the suffering of death; and at the same time deny 
him to have endured the very penalty which the law denounced 
against us. It is one thing, to substitute a surety instead of the 
sinner, condemned at the bar of justice, by the sentence of the 
law. It is another, to remove that tribunal, set aside the pro- 
visions of the law, and substitute something else in their stead. 
It is only by the strictness of the law that the sinner is con- 
demned. By its rule he is found a transgressor. By virtue of 
its indefeasible authority, and by that alone, is he subjected to 
responsibility, and needs salvation. If the law be set aside, — 
with it, the sentence of condemnation passes away ; and the sin- 
ner needs no saviour. The very suggestion of a substitute, in- 
volves the supposition of an accusation and sentence pending 
against the party; — it implies the surviving power of the law, 
and sovereignty of its decree; — it supposes an account unsatis- 
fied at its bar, and responsibilities there to be met and cancelled. 
The doctrine of the substitution of Christ in our stead, is, thus, 
irreconcilably inconsistent with the idea that he did not endure 
the very penalty of the law, but something else, in its stead. 
If that which he bore was not the very thing prescribed by the 
law, it neither could be known to the law, nor due from us. 
The law, therefore, would not demand it; nor justice enforce it; 
neither on us nor on our surety. 

Furthermore, the doctrine of the Scriptures is, not merely in 
general terms, that the Eedeemer was our substitute ; but, as 
we have sufficiently seen, the testimony is specific and in detail, 
3 1 Christ that, whatever was due from us to the law, that he 
bore the very satisfied. If we were under the law, — he was " made 
penalty. under the law, to redeem them that were under the 

law." — Gal. iv. 4. If obedience to every precept was due from 
us, — he obeyed all, as it became him "to fulfil all righteousness." 
— Matt. iii. 15. If perfect and perpetual obedience was due on 
our part, — he was "obedient until death." — Phil. ii. 8. If our 
lives were forfeited, — he "gave his life a ransom for many." — 



sect, vi.] Christ's Obedience to the Law. 621 

Matt. xx. 28. If " the wages of sin is death," — "while we were 
yet sinners Christ died for us." — Eom. v. 8. If the sentence 
of the law against us was a curse, — "Christ hath redeemed us 
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." — Gal. iii. 
13. In short, his own testimony seals the whole case : — " Think 
not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets : I 
am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto 
you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no 
wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." — Matt. v. 17, 18. 

Whilst in the very act of attempting to explain away the 
testimony of the Scriptures on this subject, Mr. Barnes is forced 
to admit, in the clearest terms, the very truth which he repu- 
diates. Respecting the language of Paul in Galatians iii. 13, 
" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being 
made a curse for us;" he says, "The word here used, and ren- 
dered curse, — xardpa.) — means, properly, as with us, cursing, 
malediction, execration, a devoting or dooming to destruction. 
It occurs in the New Testament in the following places : — Col. 
iii. 10, 13, rendered, curse ; Heb. vi. 8, James iii. 10, rendered, 
cursing; and 2 Pet. ii. 14, rendered, cursed. It conveys the 
idea of being given over to destruction, or left without those 
influences which would protect and save, — as, a land that is 
given over to the curse of sterility or barrenness. Applied to 
a lost sinner, it would mean that all saving influences were 
withdrawn, and that he was given over to the malediction of 
God. But what is its meaning as applied to the Redeemer in 
the passage now before us?" After enumerating six state- 
ments which he rejects, he proceeds : — "There is but one other 
conceivable meaning that can be attached to the passage ; and 
that is, that, though innocent, he was treated in his death as if 
he had been guilty ; that is, he was put to death as if he had 
personally deserved it."* Such, then, is the meaning of Paul, 
Mr. Barnes himself being witness. And, now, we ask, What 
is that which he suffers, who, at the tribunal of the law, is 
found "guilty," — he who is proved to be personally deserving to 
die ? Is it an infliction which the law does not prescribe, and 

* Barnes, p 294. 



622 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

of which, therefore, it can have no cognizance ? Or is it that 
which the law finds, in its record, inscribed as the reward of 
transgression, — the very penalty of the law ? It is impossible 
that this question should be candidly answered in any but one 
way. That which sin deserves, — that which the curse involved 
and the law inflicts, — is, and can be, nothing else than the law's 
penalty. And it the Son of God endured, when he became a 
curse ; so taking away from us the curse of the law. 

Mr. Barnes does not pretend to adduce a passage of Scripture 
as denying Christ to have borne the penalty of the law. This 
fact is the more significant in the presence of the abundant 
evidence which he cites in proof that he came into our 
place, — that he was a substitute for us. Our place, certainly, 
was at the bar of the law, under sentence of condemnation to 
its penalty. 

The argument upon which this writer relies, in default of 
Scripture testimony, consists in the assumption that remorse 
and eternal misery are essential elements of the penalty. These, 
Christ did not realize : therefore, he did not suffer the penalty. 
But the major premise is false, and the conclusion therefore fails. 
The penalty of the law is such evil as it prescribes, -to be in- 
flicted at its tribunal, for the vindication of its sovereignty 
against transgressors. And the question now before us is, — 
whether Christ satisfied the law by enduring all which it pre- 
scribed as the punishment of sin. That such was the fact, we 
have seen the Scriptures to be very clear. And this is, in fact, 
admitted by Mr. Barnes, with however much reluctance ; when, 
despairing to find any unsatisfied provision in the law itself, he 
has recourse to observation, as to what evils actually follow, in 
the providence of God, upon the commission of sin. All these, 
he assumes to be parts of the law's penalty. And since among 
these he finds remorse and eternal misery, he hence concludes 
that Christ has not fulfilled all. But the penalty of a law is 
to be learned no otherwise than by its own terms, as recorded in 
the law. In all cases, the rule is one; the test, one. "What 
saith the law? How readest thou?" And that which is not 
inscribed in the statute is to be left altogether out of the ac- 



sect, til] Christ's Obedience to the Lav:. 623 

count, in reference to the tribunal of the law and the decrees 
of justice. An example will illustrate the fallacy of Mr. Barnes' 
appeal. Two men are arraigned at the bar of the country, 
upon the same criminal charge. They are found guilty, and 
both sentenced to a like penalty, — to serve an equal term in 
prison. One of these has a prosperous business, which is ruined, 
a large circle of friends, who are alienated, and a loving family, 
which is stricken by the shame of his condemnation. The other 
has no such calamities to encounter. His property is safely in- 
vested, beyond the reach of calamity ; his family and friends 
live at a distance, and are ignorant of his dishonour and shame. 
Who does not instantly see that the extent of the evil endured 
in these cases is altogether disproportionate, although the 
penalty of the law is precisely the same ? In short, as we have 
elsewhere seen, the consequences which result from sin are de- 
rived only in part from the penalty of the law. They result, 
partly, from the nature of sin itself; and partly, from the 
character and condition of the sinner. Neither remorse nor 
eternity of sorrow are of the essence of the penalty. Remorse 
is that sense of desert which results from an apprehension of the 
excellence of holiness and evil of sin, and consciousness of 
voluntary aversion to that excellence and embrace of that evil. 
It is not an evil prescribed by the law ; but arises from the very 
excellence of the moral nature in which the sinner is clothed, 
and the evil of the sin which he has embraced. It is not in- 
flicted by God the Judge, but grows out of the constitution 
which was made by Grod the Creator. And, although it recog- 
nises, it does not vindicate, the sovereignty of the law. It 
proclaims it violated, but makes no satisfaction for the breach. 
Thus, wanting in every element of the legal penalty, it is no 
part of it. 

So, eternity of suffering is altogether unessential to the penalty 
of the law, and dependent upon the nature and condition of the 
victim. A finite being cannot exhaust an infinite curse, and, 
hence, must remain forever under it; and a sinning creature 
must continually incur new condemnation, by reason of continual 
sin. From both these causes, it results that the curse, as inflicted 



624 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

upon finite sinners, involves them in eternal woe. But, when 
the infinite sinless One bore the curse, a few brief hours of con- 
flict exhausted its power, and proclaimed death abolished, and 
life and immortality brought to light. 

It may be asserted that the sufferings of Christ were enforced 
by the law, and honouring to it, because they were involved as 
elements in the proper penalty, although not exhaustive of it. 
The penalty of the law was a curse, included in which is dissolu- 
tion of the body. Such a death of the body he experienced: 
therefore, his sufferings were not something else than the very 
penalty, but a part of it. But the fallacy of such reasoning is 
obvious. Either the law retains its sovereign authority in un- 
impaired integrity, or it does not. If it retain the throne of 
judgment and the sceptre of power, its decrees, as enforced, must 
involve the very infliction which their own letter prescribes, alike 
in kind and extent. To deny this, is to assert that some power 
superior to the law has assumed the throne, by the interposition 
of which the letter of the law is modified or set aside. But any 
infliction resulting from such an interposition is to be attributed, 
not to the law, but to the interposing power; and however, in 
terms, it may correspond with provisions which are contained in 
the law, such an infliction, so far from deriving authority from 
the law, or conferring honour upon it, constitutes a signal pro- 
clamation of the dethroning of the law, and the prostration of its 
honour in the dust. If the law have the power, it will enforce 
its own terms ; if it have not power adequate to this, it is a mere 
deception to attribute any other provisions to it, or to imagine 
it satisfied with any thing else. It is a "royal law," claiming 
always the throne; and, if refused the absolute mastery, is inca- 
pable of assuming any subordinate place. Either it must reign 
or perish. 

Before passing from this point, we cannot but emphasize the 
fact that, Mr. Barnes himself being the judge, there is absolutely 
nothing found in the letter of the law, whether preceptive or 
penal, to which opposers can point, and say, ''Christ did not 
fulfil this." In order to derogate from the perfection of his 
work and the completeness of his righteousness, they are con- 



sect, vil] Christ's Obedience to the Law. 625 

strained to appeal to forms of evil, which, confessedly, are not 
specified in the law. But with these we have no concern. If 
the Son of God has satisfied all the provisions which are found 
in the law itself, we are satisfied to leave the other evils — re- 
morse and eternal misery — to be disposed of by those in whose 
system they constitute features so important. If these are all 
that can be objected, then is the law, as defined in its own terms, 
fully satisfied ; its whole precept has been fully obeyed ; its whole 
penalty endured; its dishonoured crown restored, and its perfec- 
tion signally displayed. 

The fact that Christ was under the curse of the law is patent 
on the face of his whole history. He was a man of sorrows, and 
acquainted with grief. He suffered the persecutions of men, the 
malice of hell, and the frown of God. If these things flowed not 
from the penal sanction of the law, whence did they come? Is 
there any other fountain of sorrow and woe beside its curse ? Is 
it possible for the frown of God to be realized any otherwise than 
in conformity with the decrees of justice? Then is justice itself 
dethroned, and the glorious rectitude of the Holy One enshrouded 
in impenetrable darkness. Then cannot the fullest consciousness 
of perfect integrity, and unwavering fidelity and obedience, as- 
sure any creature of the favour of his Maker. Either the Medi- 
ator bore the curse for the sins of his people, — either his suffer- 
ings were enforced by law and justice, or in violation of them; 
but, if the latter, then is God's whole administration over- 
shadowed with a pall of utter night, and the creatures must 
gaze upon the awful throne of the Almighty with mingled emo- 
tions of distrust, and terror, and utter despair, uncertain, where 
or why the undiscriminating stroke of woe will next descend ! 

A glance at the several elements in which the atoning work 
of Christ consisted, will serve to illustrate the completeness of 
I 8. Panicu- his satisfaction to the claims of the law- As to his 
lars of Ms hu- active obedience, the case is soon stated. By the 
especial ordering of God's providence, he was subject 
to the authority of three distinct tribunals, at each of which he 
was tried and justified. He was a subject of the civil law of 
Rome, as administered by Pilate and Herod; and, in the judg- 

40 



626 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

ment-hall, Pilate testified, to the Jews, that he was free from all 
just charge of crime: — "Ye have brought this man unto me, as 
one that perverteth the people ; and behold, I, having examined 
him before you, have found no fault in this man, touching those 
things whereof ye accuse him; no, nor yet Herod: for I sent you 
to him; and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him." — 
Luke xxiii. 14, 15. And, when his expostulations only excited 
tumult, "he took water, and washed his hands before the multi- 
tude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person; 
(6/i£?c dreads,) bear ye witness." — Matt, xxvii. 24. Thus em- 
phatically did the civil magistrate attest his righteousness. 

He was subject to the Mosaic law, as dispensed by the great 
council of Israel, which "sat in Moses' seat." Before that tri- 
bunal he was called; and, with the zeal of unscrupulous malig- 
nity, inquest was made, for some charge which even perjury 
could establish. "The chief priests and all the council sought 
for witness against Jesus to put him to death, and found none. 
For many bare false witness against him, but their witness 
agreed not together." — Mark xiv. 55, 56. In the whole course 
of his ministry, his enemies the scribes and priests did not pre- 
tend to make a charge of violating any law but their unscriptural 
traditions. And when thus tried before the sanhedrim, they are 
at last compelled, in despair, to abandon the attempt to prove 
any thing against him; and, out of his own mouth, convict him 
of blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God. Thus did the 
very malignity of his accusers serve to attest the spotless right- 
eousness of him who, having come not to destroy the law of 
Moses, but to fulfil it, was faithful until death. 

Jesus was subject to the moral law, at the tribunal of God, the 
omniscient and righteous Judge. And, of his perfect conformity 
to it, he had testimony as signal as in either of the other cases. 
After he had spent thirty years, in fulfilment of the duties of a 
son, a brother, and a citizen in private life, he had the attestation 
©f a voice from heaven. At his baptism, not only did the Spirit 
openly appear in the form of a dove which descended upon him, 
but "a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my be- 
loved Son, in thee I am well pleased." — Luke iii. 22. Again, 



sect, vin.] Christ's Obedience to the Law. 627 

when his ministry was nearly closed, in the mount of transfigura- 
tion he received a similar attestation. To this, his perfect con- 
formity to the law of God, the Father also bore witness, in that 
he raised him from the dead. 

In respect to the particulars of the curse, which was laid upon 
the Mediator, the evidence is equally clear. If the curse in- 
volved a forfeiture of all right to possessions on earth, — ex- 
tremist poverty was his portion, from the cradle to the cross. 
Cradled in the manger of the public inn, — realizing through 
life a destitution respecting which he says, "The foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man 
hath not where to lay his head," — Matt. viii. 20, — he was in- 
debted, for the very sepulchre in which he lay, to the charity of 
Joseph of Arimathea. If sorrow and toil were comprehended 
in the sentence pronounced on our first parents, toil and sorrow 
were the unvarying portion of the Son of Mary. In the labours 
of his trade, the carpenter of Nazareth earned his bread by the 
sweat of his brow; and in the weariness of his toilsome ministry 
he filled the measure of that portion of the curse ; whilst, always, 
he was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." — Isa. liii. 
3. Grief in the sorrows of others; grief from the bereavements 
of death; grief from beholding the wickedness of the wicked, 
and from a true apprehension of the fearfulness of their doom; 
grief in anticipation and experience of the unfaithfulness and 
desertion of his cherished friends, and the treason of one who 
ate at his table; grief caused by the unrelenting hate and un- 
tiring persecution which pursued him from the cradle to the 
grave, urged by those in pity for whom he bore it all : — these 
were some of the elements of the mingled cup of bitterness which 
was drained by the incarnate Son of God. In short, if the sen- 
tence of justice abandons the sinner to the power of Satan, whom 
he has chosen rather than God, — if it condemns him to death, — 
if it denounces against him the very frown, the wrath and curse, 
of God himself: — all these Jesus endured. Borne to the wilder- 
ness, and exhausted by a fast of forty days, he is left to contend 
with all the wiles of the adversary. Again, in the "hour and 
power of darkness," he is called to wrestle in the garden, with 



628 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

the assaults of the malignant foe of God and man. In that same 
hour, his cry of agony, and his gushing blood, bedewing his per- 
son, attest his experience of the burden of omnipotent wrath : — 
"0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: 
nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." — Matt. xxvi. 39. 
On the cross, we have the most unequivocal testimony, that in 
addition to all, beside, which he endured, — the agony of cruci- 
fixion, — the malignant scoffs of his enemies, — the mockings of 
devils, — the desertion of his friends, — he was called to realize 
the frown of his Father, — the wrath of the Almighty. "My 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And when he 
cried, "It is finished," and yielded himself into the hands of 
death — the executioner, commissioned by the law; — when he 
was borne to the sepulchre, we see consummate, and signalized 
to the observation of every creature, the fact that he bore the 
curse and paid our debt, to the uttermost farthing. 

In respect to the assaults of Satan, as endured by the Son of 
God, there are some points which demand special attention. In 
a 9. His con. submitting himself to them, Jesus sustained several 
fiictswithSa- relations, which are to be discriminated from each 
tan ' other. (1.) He was the vicarious substitute, to atone 

for the sins of the world, to the justice of God ; and, as such, 
exposed to this, as an element in the curse. (2.) He was a party 
in covenant with God, to the fulfilment of a perfect righteous- 
ness. And, as the first Adam must meet the temptations of 
Satan, in order to experiment and demonstration of his un- 
wavering faithfulness to the terms of the covenant which was 
made with him, so must the second Adam give equal proof of 
fidelity to his engagements. (3.) He was God's chosen cham- 
pion; ordained to avenge the cause of God, on man's behalf, 
against the enemy of God and seducer of man. This latter 
conception of the office and work of Christ is comprehensive of 
both the others; and in it, accordingly, he was announced in 
the original threatening against the serpent, and promise to the 
fallen pair : — " I will put enmity between thee and the woman, 
and between thy seed and her Seed : it shall bruise thy head, 
and thou shalt bruise his heel." — Gen. iii. 15. The fulfilment 



sect, viii.] Christ's Obedience to the Laio. 629 

of this primeval promise comprehends the entire work of the 
Son of God. Looking at it as having respect to his immediate 
relations to Satan, it involves three points. These are, — the sub- 
mission of himself, unseduced, to all the arts of Satan's temp- 
tations; the exposure of his person to the malice of the enemy, 
and victory over it all, through the triumph of a complete 
and untarnished righteousness; and the acquisition and exer- 
cise, by him, as man, of a right to employ the power of his 
divinity, in the rescue of his people from the bondage of Satan, 
and in the overthrow and utter destruction of the enemy. That 
right was acquired by him through the fulfilment of the right- 
eousness of the covenant under which he performed his ministry 
on earth. 

As illustrative of the general principles here stated, there are 
some very remarkable facts in the sacred record. Our first 
parents were seduced severally alone. So was Jesus required 
to meet the tempter, alone, in the solitude of the wilderness, and 
in the midnight seclusion and silence of the garden. The 
seductions by which the serpent triumphed over our frail mother 
were three, — sensual pleasure, proposed in the attractive fruit 
of the forbidden tree; distrust in God's truth and goodness; 
and an unhallowed ambition, — " Ye shall be as gods." The same 
are the weapons, by which the arch-adversary hopes to over- 
come the woman's Seed. Armed with the skill of four thousand 
years' experience of the human heart, — confident in arts which 
had never known defeat in leading men astray, — and actuated 
by pride and fear and intensest hate, as he knows, in Him of 
Nazareth, the Seed whose coming he had learned so long to 
dread, — the tempter comes to Jesus, enfeebled and faint with a 
fast of forty days. He proposes to him, not the indulgence of 
unlawful appetites, but the supply of those that were lawful : — 
" If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be 
made bread." — Matt. iv. 3. But it is the fruit of the forbidden 
tree. God's power had borne him to that solitude ; and his will 
had imposed the fast. And the miraculous powers of the Son. 
of man were his, not for the gratification of his own appetites, 
nor for the satisfaction of Satan's demands, but for the Father's 



630 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

glory. To have assented would have been to cast off the cross ; 
and Jesus replies, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread 
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God." The next attempt is to induce distrust in God. "He 
taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle 
of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, 
cast thyself down : for it is written, He shall give his angels charge 
Concerning thee : and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest 
at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." To make gra- 
tuitous experiment of God's faithfulness, is to distrust it. 
" Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt 
the Lord thy God." The previous approaches of Satan were 
covert. But, despairing of success in that form, the devil now 
casts off disguise, announces himself, and 'appeals to the ambi- 
tion of the carpenter's son, by holding up before him the glit- 
tering prize of wealth and dominion. "Again, the devil taketh 
him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all 
the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith 
unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall 
down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee 
hence, Satan : for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy 
God, and him only shalt thou serve." Jesus had of his own 
will submitted to the assaults of the tempter. He now asserts 
his authority over him. The words, "Get thee hence, Satan," 
were imperative; and the devil "departed from him (&%pe xacpou) 
until the time." — Luke iv. 13. The authority of the injunction 
thus imposed was effectual throughout the entire ministry of 
Christ; during the whole of which his control was asserted, in 
the most imperative form, over all the power of the enemy. 

When the time drew nigh that the mediatorial obedience 
should be finished, Satan was permitted again to assail the Son 
1 10. His last of man, and to engage with him in a final struggle. 
conflict. 2e had not been prevented at any time from indulg- 

ing in machinations against the Redeemer. Two of the evange- 
lists, Luke and John, state distinctly his agency in the treachery 
of Judas. He seems first to have proposed the treason to the 
son of perdition, upon occasion of the feast at the house of Simon 



sect, ix.] Christ 's Obedience to the Law. 631 

the leper, three days before the crucifixion. A woman having 
anointed Jesus with a precious ointment, the avarice of Judas 
impelled him to a hypocritical expression of indignation at the 
waste of what might better have been given to the poor, — "not 
that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had 
the bag, and bare what was put therein." — John xii. 6. He was 
thereupon rebuked by Jesus, and the woman vindicated. A com- 
parison of Matthew xxvi. 14, and Mark xiv. 10, with Luke xxii. 
3, seems to indicate this to have been the occasion seized by Satan 
to suggest to Judas an easy way of gratifying at once his malice 
and avarice: — "Then entered Satan into Judas. . . . And he went 
his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how 
he might betray him unto them." — Luke xxii. 3, 4. On the night 
of the betrayal, Jesus having secretly, to the beloved John, made 
known the traitor, by giving him the sop, the evangelist states, 
that, "after the sop, (rove,) then entered Satan into him. Then 
said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly." — John xiii. 
27. Strong reasons might be given for the opinion that this ad- 
dress of our Saviour was designed personally for Satan. That 
the devil was personally present, is unquestionable. That he be- 
came the controlling agent in Judas, immediately upon his recep- 
tion of the sop, is also certain. Our Lord undoubtedly knew 
this. His address to Judas had reference to the treason which, 
under the instigation of Satan, he was designing. The change 
of pronoun from ixecvo^, which in the 27th and 29th verses 
designates Judas, to aozoz, (Aiyei obv aurw 6 y fy&&y% } ) seems also 
to require the recognition of, Satan, the nearest noun, as the 
proper antecedent. "After the sop, then entered (kt$ kxetvov) 
into him, Satan. Jesus therefore said (aurw) to him, (that is, to 
Satan,) What thou doest, do quickly."* Even if this interpre- 

* A writer in The Spirit of the Nineteenth Century, for October, 1842, p. 466, 
by a number of forcible arguments, sustains the position that Satan entered 
personally into Judas at the time here designated. To them may be added the 
manner in which the preposition is repeated in the text, — (e\gt}Wev elg eke'lvov 6 
I,aTavag.) We have had occasion, in another place, to indicate the fact that, in 
the New Testament, the phrase, elctjWev eIq, is invariably expressive of a proper 
entrance into the object which is governed by the preposition. See, for example, 
Mark ix. 25, and John xx. 4-6. 



632 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

tation be rejected, and the language of our Saviour be supposed 
to have primary reference to Judas, it is still certain that it not 
only conveyed to him liberty to pursue his treacherous purpose, 
— it not only withdrew from him all restraining influences, but in- 
volved a like liberation of Satan, whose willing and entire instru- 
ment Judas had now become. Accordingly, he, having received 
the sop, went immediately out. He hastens to the priests, to 
complete his plans, whilst Satan awaits the opportunity for his 
final assault. 

The season of the last fearful encounter, between the Prince 
of light and the power of darkness, comprehends the period from 
the withdrawal to Gethsemane until the cry — "It is finished" — 
on the cross. During this whole time, all his enemies, human 
and Satanic, were engaged in one combined and desperate en- 
deavour to overcome and destroy the Son of God. Whilst the 
rage of men assailed his person, the deeper hate of Satan arrayed 
itself against his yet unsullied righteousness ; and strove, by mar- 
ring that, at once to destroy utterly him and the world, and at 
the same time to triumph by the prostration in the dust of the 
Father's purposes of grace to man and glory to himself. In all 
the transactions, Satan was the master-spirit, acting under a full 
sense of the extremity of his cause, and with full allowance to 
bring all his resources to bear, in the vain endeavour to defeat 
the redeeming grace of God, and to subdue the woman's Seed. 
"This," said Jesus to the officers, "is your hour, and the power 
of darkness." — Luke xxii. 53. (Compare Acts xxvi. 18; 2 Cor. 
iv. 4; Eph. ii. 2; Col. i. 13.) Of the precise nature of the spiritual 
assaults to which Jesus was exposed during this time, the evan- 
gelists give us but little information. Much light, however, is 
shed upon the subject, by the twenty-second and sixty-ninth 
Psalms, the subject of which is the passion of our Saviour. By 
a comparison of these Psalms with the statements of the evan- 
gelists, we learn that this final and desperate onset of Satan as- 
sumed a form at once suited to the present gratification of his 
malignant hate, and presenting the only remaining resource by 
which he could ever hope for success in seducing Christ from 
the path of holy obedience. The time was now come when 



sect, x.] Christ's Obedience to the Law. 633 

justice must verify the words of the prophet: — " Awake, 
sword ; against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my 
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the 
sheep shall be scattered." — Zech. xiii. 7. The hour was come 
in which our Surety must experience the Father's desertion. 
The dark and polluted robe of our sins covers him; and, whilst 
his soul is filled with loathing and abhorrence of their blackness 
and enormity, he is numbered with the transgressors, and chal- 
lenged, as a debtor, to give satisfaction for the whole. The spot- 
less Lamb, the loving Son of God, is called to realize the bitter- 
ness of the Father's frown, and feel the burden of his wrath. 
Seizing such an hour as this, Satan and all his legions combine 
their powers, with malignant skill, in a furious assault, aiming 
to render his distress altogether intolerable, and excite in him 
impatience under the burden, or distrust and despair of the 
Father's faithfulness and love. Thus, he complains, "Many 
bulls have compassed me ; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me 
round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening 
and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my 
bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the 
midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; 
and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me 
into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me : the as- 
sembly of the wicked have enclosed me : they pierced my hands 
and my feet. . . . Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from 
the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth : for thou 
hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns." — Psalm xxii. 12- 
21. " They persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they 
talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded." — Psalm 
lxix. 26. "All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot 
out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord 
that he would deliver him : let him deliver him, seeing he de- 
lighted in him." — Psalm xxii. 7, 8. Viewed in the light of these 
Scriptures, what a scene is unveiled before us ! Prostrate in the 
garden lies the innocent One. The Father's face is hidden; the 
sword of justice flames on high; the storm of wrath gathers its 
fury ; the cup of indignation is put to his lips. Condemned and 



634 The Elolihn Revealed. [chap. xxt. 

forsaken of God, he seeks the sympathy of beloved disciples ; but 
they are asleep. Alone, — forsaken and accursed of God, be- 
trayed and deserted of men, — he is left to endure the Blockings 
of the hosts of hell. They gnash upon him, and cry, " God hath 
forsaken him : persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver 
him." — Ps. lxxi. 11. His wrestlings with the Father are mocked 
by the demand, " Where is thy God ?" " And being in an agony, 
he prayed more earnestly : and his sweat was as it were great 
drops of blood, falling down to the ground." — Luke xxii. 44. 
Yet, in perfect acquiescence to the Father's will, he cries, "Omy 
Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink 
it, thy will be done." — Matt. xxvi. 42. He is seized and led 
away by the officers, guided by one of his cherished followers. 
His disciples all forsake him and flee. Even Peter, with cursing 
and swearing, denies and disowns him. A victim to outrage and 
indignity, in the presence of the great council of Israel; rejected 
by his people, with the cry, " Away with him! crucify him!" 
mocked by Herod and his men of war ; condemned and scourged 
by Pilate ; pursued to Calvary by the execrations of the hooting 
mob; nailed to the tree of ignominy, between two thieves; the 
temptations of Satan, re-echoed by the passing scribes and priests, 
who wag their heads and say, "He saved others; himself he can- 
not save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down 
from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God : 
let him deliver him now if he will have him : for he said, I am 
the Son of God," — Matt, xxvii. 41-43; through all constrained 
to bear the heavier burden of the Father's frown, — what sorrow 
like to his sorrow? Surely, it is not in man to endure, with 
perfect acquiescence, the will by which he was afflicted thus ; to 
stand faithful to Him that appointed him to the cross, and confi- 
dent in the love and truth of Him who concealed his face behind 
a cloud, dark as that which frowned on Calvary. But Jesus was 
faithful to the end ; and, when his work and conflict was finished, 
not by the power of men nor devils was his life taken away; nor 
into their hands did he surrender his soul ; but to the Father he 
commits it, until the resurrection morning, then to be resumed 
again. When he had received the vinegar, he said, " It is finished. 



sect, x.] Christ's Obedience to the Laiv. 635 

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit:" and, having said 
thus, he gave up the ghost. (John xix. 30, and Luke xxiii. 46.) 
Thus was Jesus obedient until death. The cry, "It is finished!" 
was the exultant shout of victory: which proclaimed Satan's 
sceptre broken, his power destroyed, and man's salvation com- 
plete. 

In respect to the significance of this language of the expiring 
Eedeemer, as indicating a finished work, and completed right- 
l n. "it is eousness of the law, the evidence is very pointed 
finished." an d conclusive. We have seen how full the testi- 
mony to the fact that such was the purpose of the Father in 
sending the Son, and the design of the Son in coming into the 
world, — to magnify the law, work a perfect righteousness, and 
make atonement for sin. Such were the terms of his commis- 
sion, and of the covenant under which he came. In reference to 
his appointment to fulfil these ends, Jesus, in his prayer at the 
supper, anticipating the scenes of the next day as already past, 
says, "Father, I have finished the work which thou gavest me 
to do." — John xvii. 4. And, now, on the cross, we are told by 
John, that after the cry, "Eli! Eli! lama sabacthani!" — "Jesus, 
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scrip- 
ture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now, there was set a 
vessel full of vinegar ; and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and 
put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, 
therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished." — 
John xix. 28-30. To all this, add the language of the risen 
Redeemer to his assembled disciples: — "These are the words 
which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, That all things 
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and 
in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me." — Luke 
xxiv. 44. If, then, Messiah was foretold, in the Old Testament, 
as he who should bruise the serpent's head, — if he was predicted 
as he who should magnify the law and make it honourable, — if he 
was " to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and 
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting 
righteousness," — Dan. ix. 24; — if he came to make his soul an 
offering for sin, — to suffer the chastisement of our peace, that 



636 The EloJiim Revealed. [chap. xxi. 

we with his stripes may be healed,— the word, "It is finished," 
attests all this complete. Satan is destroyed. The law is obeyed ; 
its curse endured; its claims all satisfied; its authority esta- 
blished, magnified and made honourable. The honour of God's 
wisdom, goodness, power and justice, impeached and assailed by 
Satan, through man, is vindicated in the overthrow and destruc- 
tion of Satan himself; in the defeat of all his designs against 
man; and the employment of his very malignity and hostile 
power, as the occasion and means of greater blessings to man, 
and higher glory to God. The eternal covenant, by the provi- 
sions of which the Son was sent to earth, and engaged in the 
conflict with Satan, is fulfilled; all its provisions of humiliation 
are met; and the Son has acquired the title to all the glory, 
power and salvation therein promised. 

If further evidence is demanded of a finished legal right- 
eousness accomplished by Christ, it is presented in his resur- 
rection. 

" In his blessed life 
I see the path, and in his death the price, 
And in his great ascent the proof supreme, 
Of immortality. — And did he rise ? — 
Hear, ye nations ! hear it, ye dead ! 
He rose ! he rose ! he burst the bars of Death !" — Young. 

Vain the machinations of priests and princes. Vain the stone, 
the seal, the glittering guard. The dawning comes of that first 
day of the week ! And lo ! a mighty angel — whilst the earth 
quakes at his presence, and the terrified soldiery flee from his 
face — descends, and rolls back the stone, and awaits the coming 
forth of the Mightier than he, who condescends to lie imprisoned 
there. Thus the second Adam arose. He had descended into 
the very den of death, and yielded himself to the very jaws of 
the grave, only to make his victory complete. He laid down 
his life, that he might take it again. Now is death swallowed 
up in victory, and life and immortality are brought to light. 
He is the first fruits of them that slept, — the first born from the 
dead. Prior to him, some had indeed been recalled to life. 
But it was only for a season, again to return to the dust. But 



sect, xi.] Christ's Obedience to the Law. 637 

" Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath 
no more dominion over him." — Rom. vi. 9. Not to the grave 
shall he ever return ; but on high he ascends. Go, stand with 
the adoring apostles. Go, listen as they listened to his loving 
words, of grace and salvation. "Thus it is written, and thus it 
behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third 
day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached 
in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye 
are witnesses of these things. . . . And he led them out as far as to 
Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it 
came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them 
and carried up into heaven." — Luke xxiv. 46-51. " God is gone 
up with a shout! the Lord with the sound of a trumpet!" — 
Psalm xlvii. 5. Come forth to meet him, ye ransomed hosts, 
Abraham and all thy sons ! He is the Son of Abraham, the Son 
of man. Death is abolished ; — Satan is destroyed ; — and redemp- 
tion complete! "Lift up your heads, ye gates; even lift 
them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come 
in." — Psalm xxiv. 9. 

If, "in that he died, he died unto sin once;" — Eom. vi. 10; — if 
he "hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself," 
and "was once offered to bear the sins of many;" — Heb. ix. 
26, 28; — if, by law, "the wages of sin is death;" — Rom. vi. 23; 
— then, unquestionably, the resurrection of the second Adam is 
proof conclusive, that the sins for which he died are atoned for 
and taken away, — that the wages of sin are fully paid, and the 
demands of the law wholly satisfied. Henceforth, let Jehovah- 
Tsidkenu, — The Lord our righteousness, be the song of all 
his people. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE LAST ADAM A QUICKENING SPIRIT. 

"We have seen that one controlling reason why the Mediator 
must assume a part in our nature, and put on a true humanity, 
1 1. Effectual was in order that his human nature, might be a fit- 
caiiing. ting temple in which the Holy Spirit might dwell, 

making it the fountain of his influences and the seat of his re- 
deeming power. It is in reference to this endowment of the 
person of Christ with the fulness of the Spirit, and the influences 
thence resulting, that Paul draws that remarkable contrast be- 
tween the first Adam and the second: — "The first man Adam 
was made (e«e <!>v%ty ^uowJ) to be a living soul, the last Adam 
(e/c 7rveu t ua ^cootzocouv) to be a quickening spirit. . . . The first 
man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from 
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; 
and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly; 
and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear 
the image of the heavenly." — 1 Cor. xv. 45-49. 

We are now to consider the manner in which Christ exerts 
this his quickening power, and confers on his people the bless- 
ings which are prepared for them by his and the Father's love. 

1. The sovereign will of the royal Mediator is the sole moving 
cause of the work of grace. Says Jesus, "As the Father 
raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quick- 
eneth whom he will. . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, The 
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice 
of the Son of G-od; and they that hear shall live. For as the 
Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have 
life in himself." — John v. 21, 25, 26. Here, Christ, no doubt, 
has ultimate reference to the resurrection of the body. But he 

638 



sect, i.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit. 639 

speaks more immediately of the resurrection of dead souls to 
spiritual life. He describes a new life which was actually real- 
ized by men, when he uttered the words, in the days of his flesh; 
and which constituted a pledge and antepast of the resurrection 
of the just: — "The hour is coming, and now is. . . . Marvel not 
at this ; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 
graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth." — V. 28, 29. It 
is therefore in reference to the effectual calling of his people, that 
the Son of God says of himself that "he cjuickeneth whom he 
will." He teaches the same doctrine when, in another place, he 
says, "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am 
known of mine. . . . And other sheep I have, which are not of 
this fold ; them also (/is ds7 d.yay€lv) I must gather in ; and they 
shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one Shep- 
herd." — John x. 14, 16. 

2. The instrumentality through which the grace of Christ is 
brought home to men, is the preaching of the word. "Without 
faith it is impossible to please God." — Heb. xi. 6. But "faith 
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." — Eom. x. 
17. Hence the argument of Paul. Citing the language of Joel, 
"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," 
— he asks, "How then shall they call on him in whom they 
have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom 
they have not heard ? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? 
and how shall they preach except they be sent?" — Eom. x. 13, 
14. The design of the whole mission and work of the Son of 
God being, the revelation of the Father, he identifies that work 
of grace, in which the Father's glory is so signally illustrated, 
with the publication of an oral testimony to the divine perfec- 
tions. And, having all power in heaven and earth, he has em- 
ployed his power in sending forth that testimony to each one of 
the elect. So he says, " Other sheep have I, which are not of 
this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice," 
to wit, as uttered by his ministers, to whom he says, "He that 
heareth you heareth me." — Luke x. 16. 

3. The Spirit sent forth by Christ is the agent, through whose 
personal presence and efficiency the call of the gospel is made 



640 The EloMm Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

effectual. " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith 
the Lord of hosts." — Zech. iv. 6. In this work of God's power 
the entire nature of the man, body and soul, is possessed and 
pervaded by the Spirit, and united by him to the person of 
Christ, in whom he dwells. The soul is subjected to his supre- 
macy, and its powers subdued under the control of his will; and 
the vile body is made his temple, (1 Cor. vi. 19,) and its members 
his instruments, (Eom. vi. 13.) This subject will be illustrated 
as we trace the process through which the Son of God endows 
his people with every perfection and grace of the image of God, 
robes them in perfect righteousness, exalts them to sonship with 
God, and bestows upon them the inheritance of heaven. 

The first blessing which thus the second Adam bestows, has 
respect to the bondage under which his elect lie to the depravity 
§ 2. The new which came in by the fall. This is broken by rege- 
Wr*k neration. "Except a man be born again, he cannot 

see the kingdom of God." — John iii. 3. Of this new birth, Paul 
says to Titus, " Not by works of righteousness which we have 
done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of 
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on 
us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour." — Tit. iii. 5, 
6. Here the several relations of the Persons of the Godhead to 
the new birth are distinctly stated. The Father is the primary 
author of it, by the gift of the Spirit. The person of Jesus 
Christ is the medium through whom he is given. He is "shed 
on us abundantly (dca ' Ir t adb Xptazou) through Jesus Christ." 
And to the immediate power of the Spirit thus shed down, is the 
cleansing and renewing work attributed. Regeneration is that 
change which occurs in the soul,, by virtue of the entrance of 
Christ's Spirit, as an indwelling power, assuming a sovereignty 
absolute and entire over the whole being. Whereas, in the un- 
regenerate, the old man, the apostate nature of Adam, maintains 
supreme control, and determines the attitude of the powers, and 
the actions of the life, — the Spirit of Christ, entering into his 
people in regeneration, acts as a new and divine nature, by the 
power of which the old nature is brought into subjection, and the 
child of God is led contrary to it, in the ways of new obedience. 



sect, i.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit, 641 

In reference to the efficiency of the Spirit in engrafting the 
elect into the person of Christ, imparting to them his mind, and 
endowing them with his justifying righteousness and immortal 
life and glory, he is called " the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," — 
Eom. viii. 2 ; and his entrance is the communication of life, — 
the life of Christ to the soul. " He that hath the Son hath life, 
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." — 1 John v. 
12. Paul says of himself, "lam crucified with Christ : never- 
theless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life, 
which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of 
God, who loved me and gave himself for me." — Gal. ii. 20. The 
effect of the entrance of this life of Christ into the soul is 
instantaneously realized in the restoration of the nature and 
powers to conformity with the likeness of Christ and of God. 
The saints are " created in Christ Jesus unto good works." — 
Eph. ii. 10. "The new man is renewed in knowledge after the 
image of him that created him." — Col. iii. 10. It, " after God, is 
created in righteousness and true holiness." — Eph. iv. 24. The 
reason is enlightened to know the truth of God ; and the con- 
science, to apprehend and admire the beauty and glory of his 
holiness. " God, who commanded the light to shine out oi 
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the 
knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." — 
2 Cor. iv. 6. " The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can 
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he 
that is spiritual judgeth all things." — 1 Cor. ii. 14. Thus is the 
moral sense restored to its pristine office, and enabled to appre- 
hend, admire and adore the glorious beauty of God's perfections 
and the riches of his boundless love. At the same time, the 
promise of Christ is fulfilled by the Comforter, who brings all 
things to remembrance and guides into all truth. 

Whilst thus the man is brought into the light of God's truth 
and beholds with joy his matchless excellency, the love of God 
seizes the soul and controls the will. The soul beholding the 
glory of God, and the nature conformed to his image, — the 
affections and the will flow in harmony with the renewed and 

41 



642 The Eloltim Revealed. [chap. xxri. 

enlightened nature, in the love and imitation of the divine per- 
fections, and obedience to the law of God. The works of the 
flesh are abandoned, and its lusts crucified ; whilst the fruits of 
the Spirit grow, — "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." — Gal. v. 22, 23. 

In one aspect of it, regeneration is the beginning of a work 
which is finished in sanctification. In another, it is an instan- 
taneous act, complete and finished in itself. The old man is actu- 
ally crucified ; the native corruptions and lusts may linger for a 
season, but they are wounded unto death. The new man is after 
God created. The Spirit of Christ has taken possession of soul 
and body, — a possession which is full and entire, and which will 
be final and forever, since " the gifts and calling of God are 
without repentance." — Eom. xi. 29. The life of Christ is begun 
in the soul. The person has become a member of Christ, — of 
his body, of his flesh and of his bones. Henceforth, on earth, 
for glory or shame, Christ's portion is his ; and his, the life and 
immortality of Christ, in the heavens. 

Another immediate result of union with Christ is, investiture 
in his righteousness, to our justification. Whilst the Holy 
1 3. Justified- Spirit is the author of the new birth, "it is God 
(ton by faith. ( t ] ie Father,) that justifies." — Eom. viii. 33. Justi- 
fication is that decree of God's justice, wherein the sinner, being 
cited to the bar, and appearing clothed in the spotless and per- 
fect righteousness of Christ his Head, is therein justified; that 
is, pronounced to be righteous and entitled to the covenant pro- 
mise of eternal life. 

1. The matter of justification is that very, whole and entire 
righteousness which the Lord Jesus wrought by his obedience 
and suffering. This follows from the very manner of the justi- 
fication itself, and is abundantly attested in the Scriptures. 
Either, Christ answers wholly for us, or, not at all. Either, we 
are members of the body, and our relation to the law conse- 
quently merged in that of our Head, so that, at the bar, we are 
known only in him and endowed with all his fulness ; or, we are 
not members, and, if not, have no interest in the Head, nor He 
a voice on our behalf. Of such he says, "I never knew you." 



sect, ii.] The Last Adam a Quickening /Sjririt. 643 

The relation to the Head which causes that we are not looked 
upon in our sins, but in him who knew no sin ; at once induces 
our own righteousnesses, as well as our sins, to be hidden behind 
Christ, and enrobes us in his whole merits and honour. Christ, 
and he only, " is the end of the law for righteousness to every 
one that believeth." — Rom. x. 4. He "of God is made unto us 
. . . righteousness." — 1 Cor. i. 30. " In his days," says the pro- 
phet, " Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely : and 
this is his name, whereby he shall be called : The Lord our 
Righteousness." — Jer. xxiii. 6. " In the Lord shall all the 
seed of Israel be justified and shall glory." — Isa. xlv. 25. "As 
by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemna- 
tion, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came 
upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's 
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of 
one shall many be made righteous." — Kom. v. 18, 19. As the 
apostasy of Adam immediately involved all who were in him 
under condemnation, prior to and irrespective of any of the 
actual sins which the apostate nature causes in them personally, 
— so the righteousness of the second Adam is the sole and im- 
mediate ground of the justification of all who are in him, prior 
to and irrespective of the holy obedience which the indwelling 
Spirit of Christ works in them. 

2. The ground of the justification of the elect, — the cause of 
the imputation to them of the righteousness of Christ, — is, their 
actual inbeing in Christ. They are " accepted in the Beloved," 
— Eph. i. 6, — because they really are in him. Christ's right- 
eousness is theirs, because he, whose is that righteousness, is 
theirs. If Christ himself is free from condemnation, it cannot 
reach those who are in him. If he stands justified and entitled 
to eternal life and glory, as the covenant reward of his perfect 
and finished obedience, — they that are in him, the members of 
his body, must needs be included in the sentence of his justifica- 
tion and the award to him of eternal life. " There is therefore 
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. ... 
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
free from the law of sin and death." — Rom. viii. 1, 2. Here 



644 The Eloltim Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

justification is announced: — "There is no condemnation." Its 
ground is stated : — it is " to them which are in Christ." And its 
mode is described : — " the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus hath made me free." The controlling power of the Spirit 
of Christ, dwelling in and ruling the soul, and uniting it to Christ, 
imparts his freedom from the curse, which he has exhausted, 
and from the law, which he has condescended freely to obey, 
which he has fully satisfied, and over which he now asserts his 
divine supremacy. The same idea the apostle urges in another 
form, when he says, " My brethren, ye are become dead to the 
law, by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to another, 
even to him who is raised from the dead," — and so proved inde- 
pendent of the law, whose curse is thus shown to be exhausted, 
— "that we should bring forth fruit unto God." — Eom. vii. 4. 
Again, the apostle, having stated the enmity of the carnal mind 
to God, and the consequent displeasure of God against those 
who are in the flesh, adds, " But ye are not in the flesh, but in 
the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, 
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 
And if Christ be in you," to wit, by his Spirit, "the body is 
dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteous- 
ness," — the righteousness of Christ, which it imparts. — Kom. 
viii. 9, 10. Hence the declaration of the same apostle in another 
place : — " I count all things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; for whom I have suffered 
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may 
win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own right- 
eousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the 
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith." — 
Phil. iii. 8, 9. 

3. The instrumental cause of the appropriation of the right- 
eousness of Christ, in order to justification, is faith. " Being 
justified by faith, Ave have peace with God, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ." — Kom. v. 1. As the Head of the Church has 
seen good to make the knowledge of the truth an invariable 
prerequisite to salvation, — so has he appointed faith in that 
testimony, as the means through which his righteousness is 



sect, in.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit. 645 

applied to the justifying of the soul. Essentially, justification 
takes place immediately upon union with Christ by the Spirit ; 
which, in the case of infants, may precede the knowledge which 
is requisite to actual faith. But, in a strict legal sense, the 
decree of justification is only issued when the party has made 
an actual appearance at the bar, and pleaded the righteousness 
of Christ. This is the office of faith, which is a grace wrought 
in the heart by the ingrafting Spirit, whereby we receive and rest 
upon Christ alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel. 
The importance and necessity of faith in order to justification, 
is consequent upon its relation to the revealing plan. God 
having put into operation the instrumentalities which we have 
seen to concur in making known the divine nature and perfec- 
tions, the acceptance of that testimony must be esteemed by him 
of an importance proportioned to the dignity and variety of the 
witnesses whom he has commissioned, the demonstration of the 
evidence, and the sovereignty and condescension of Him who 
has seen good thus to reveal himself. If the revelation of the 
Most High was an object becoming the creation of all things, 
the formation of man, and his redemption by the incarnate 
Word, — proportionately important is that faith without which 
the testimony is all in vain. Further, in the exercise of faith, 
the believer becomes a witness whose testimony is added to all 
the rest, confirming the evidence and proclaiming it abroad. 
The Son of God is the Kevealer in whom, especially as incarnate 
and crucified for sin, all other testimony concentrates its light. 
In him the whole revelation culminates ; and therefore faith in 
him is essential to any true belief in God, or acceptance with 
him. Hence the appointment of faith in Christ as the alone and 
indispensable prerequisite to salvation. Not as though it were 
a meritorious condition ; but as an indispensable evidence and 
infallible proof of being truly a member of Christ. If we are 
in Christ, we will have the Spirit of Christ. And, if we have 
his Spirit, we will assuredly exercise implicit faith and trust in 
his testimony. Of the relation of faith to the truth as a revela- 
tion of God, the beloved disciple tells us that, " he that belie veth. 
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself : he that believeth 



646 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

not God hath, made him a liar; because he believeth not the 
record that God gave of his Son." — 1 John v. 10. And the 
Baptist says that " what the Son hath seen and heard, that he 
testifieth. ... He that hath received his testimony hath set to 
his seal that God is true. For He whom God hath sent speaketh 
the words of God."— John iii. 32-34. The Spirit of Christ, 
dwelling within, takes of the things of Christ, shows them in 
their demonstration and glory to the soul, and works faith in 
the witness thus given. It testifies of the freeness, fulness and 
sufficiency of his atoning work, and induces the soul to take 
refuge in him. The ministers of the law cite the party to 
appear at the bar of justice. The believer answers by pleading 
Christ. That plea is of itself an immediate and infallible proof 
that he by whom it is made has the Spirit of Christ, is a 
member of his body, and entitled, as such, to the merits of the 
Head. There is therefore no condemnation ; but, " being justi- 
fied by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ."— Rom. v. 1. 

The adoption of sons is another of the endowments which 
Christ confers on his people, by union with himself. " As many 
#'4. Tiieadop. as received him, to them gave he power to become 
tianofeons. ^he sons of God, even to them that believe on his 
name : which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
nor of the will of man, but of God." — John i. 12, 13. The adop- 
tion and sonship arise out of the concurrence of two circum- 
stances. First, the regeneration is wrought by the Holy Spirit, 
acting as the incorruptible seed; and, since it is the Spirit of 
God, it follows that they who are thus born again are born of 
God, and are therefore his children. Hence the statement of 
Paul : — "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage 
again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, 
whereby we cry, Abba, Father." — Eom. viii. 14, 15. Second, 
the regeneration being wrought by the Spirit given through the 
person of Christ, and uniting the elect to him, the oneness with 
him so caused induces in them a communion in his relation to 
the Father. As he is the only begotten Son, they who are in 



sect, in.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit. 647 

him are, in him, sons. " God sent forth his Son, ... to redeem 
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adop- 
tion of sons." — Gal. iv. 4, 5. 

As a consequence of the sonship thus arising, believers are 
invested with a title to the inheritance in the heavens with 
Christ. " "Wherefore," says Paul, "thou art no more a ser- 
vant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through 
Christ." — Gal. iv. 7. "If children, then heirs, — heirs of God, 
and joint heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him, 
that we may be also glorified together." — Eom. viii. 17. 

To those upon whom Christ thus confers the adoption of sons, 
he also gives the privilege of the most endeared intimacy, com- 
a 5. Com- munion and fellowship with himself and the Father. 
munion with " Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the 
God - Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, 

Abba, Father." — Gal. iv. 6. Thus, not only is access to the 
presence of God permitted, but the Father himself sends forth 
his own Spirit to persuade his children to draw near with con- 
fidence and call upon him. Nay, further, the blessed Godhead 
condescends to come and take up its abode in the soul, which is 
united to the Son. So, Jesus says, " If a man love me, he will 
keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come 
unto him and make our abode with him," — John xiv. 23; and 
of the Spirit, he tells his disciples, " He dwelleth with you and 
shall be in you." — John xiv. 17. Hence, John writes, " Truly 
our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
Christ."— 1 John i. 3. 

Of the communion thus realized, the Spirit of Christ is the 
immediate efficient cause. Sent forth from the Father by and 
through the Son, and remaining in the hearts of the regenerate, 
he imparts to them the testimony of God, seals to them his love, 
and excites in them responsive affections and heavenward 
breathings. Hence Paul, having, in the eighth chapter of the 
epistle to the Romans, traced the relation of the indwelling 
Spirit to justification, regeneration, sanctification, the resur- 
rection of the body, and the adoption, adds, "Likewise the Spirit- 
also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we should 



648 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession 
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that 
searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, 
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the 
will of God." — Rom. viii. 26, 27. 

The communion with God which was enjoyed by Adam in 
innocency was that of a highly favoured servant. That which 
the second Adam enjoys and confers on his seed is the intimacy 
of a beloved Son, — an intimacy in which the Father encourages 
his children to come with boldness and confiding trust to his 
bosom ; whilst he is alike ready to listen to the burden of the 
weary, the care-worn and sorrowing heart, unbosomed to a 
sympathizing friend ; to the confessions of contrition, bewailing 
indwelling corruptions and actual sins ; the cry of the repenting 
rebel seeking at length to mercy long despised; and to the 
thanksgivings of hearts rejoicing in experience of the grace of 
God, — the praises of such as have caught some glimpses of his 
beauty, — and the adorations of those whose larger discoveries 
of his glorious majesty and unsearchableness cause the breathing 
forth of the cry of "Holy! Holy!" No member of Christ so 
obscure or so lowly but is privileged with this access, and per- 
suaded and commanded to come nigh thus unto God, and hold 
fellowship with the eternal One. Nor does God thus gather the 
brethren of his Son, the children of his adoption, into his pre- 
sence, without bestowing upon them favours proportionate to his 
greatness. Each Person of the Godhead brings gifts for their 
endowment. The Son assures them in all their temptations and 
sorrows of his presence and compassion. — " These things I have 
spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world 
ye shall have tribulation : but be of good cheer ; I have overcome 
the world." — John xvi. 33. " We have not a high-priest that can- 
not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all 
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." — Heb. iv. 15. 
And "in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able 
to succour them that are tempted." — Heb. ii. 18. He breathes 
upon them and confers his Spirit and his peace, and gives them 
evidence of interest in his person, and title to his righteousness* 



sect, v.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit. 649 

and inheritance with him. The Father testifies his love, in the 
assurance, " I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my 
sons and daughters." — 2 Cor. vi. 18. And " though now for a 
season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold tempta- 
tions;" it is to the end " that the trial of your faith, being much 
more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried with 
fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the 
appearing of Jesus Christ." — 1 Pet. i. 6, 7. The Holy Spirit 
breathes into the heart his consolations, unveils to it the glory 
of the Father and Son, testifies of their love, and gives birth 
within the soul to graces and affections which are heaven begun, 
— meekness, gentleness, faith, love, joy, peace. 

If such is the character of the communion which the children 
of Grocl enjoy whilst dwelling here under the cloud, amid sigh- 
ings and sorrows, temptations and sins, what will it be when 
they shall see the King in his beauty and dwell forever in his 
temple? "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we 
know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we 
shall see him as he is." — 1 John iii. 2. And, to this blessed pro- 
mise, the heart of every saint responds : — It is enough; — "As for 
me, I will behold thy face in righteousness : I shall be satisfied 
when I awake with thy likeness." — Psalm xvii. 15. 

That work of grace in the soul, which is begun in the new 
birth, is completed in sanctification. In regeneration, the apos- 
o 6 Sanctifi _ tate nature is brought under curb and subjection to 
cation of the the Spirit of Christ. In sanctification, the soul is, 
s P irit - by degrees, purged of its apostate tendencies; the 

old man gradually expires, and the nature is moulded, by the 
indwelling Spirit of Christ, into a free and spontaneous harmony 
with Christ's nature, after the image of God. That the Spirit 
should dwell in the soul as a supreme, pervasive and controlling 
agent, and yet depravity and sin remain, is a fact which is en- 
tirely beyond our comprehension. But, whilst the mode of its 
occurrence is inscrutable, the purpose of it would seem to be 
clear. The design of the whole work of God being the revela- 
tion of himself, — that revelation, to suit the finite capacities for 
which it is designed, must gradually unfold itself. In particular, 



650 The Eloldm Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

were the elect instantaneously sanctified, neither would they nor 
others be able to apprehend the depth of ruin from which they 
are rescued, nor the nature nor extent of the mercy and grace 
of which they are monuments. But when, through years of con- 
flict, they learn to put a just estimate upon the depravity of their 
nature, and step by step attain deliverance from it, and win the 
height of holiness and the joy of heaven, they are furnished with 
a means, not otherwise attainable, of estimating the love and 
grace, the wisdom and power, of the redeeming God. In view 
of this design of the work and conflict of the Christian, his sanc- 
tification is wrought through the instrumentality of the truth. 
" We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the 
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even 
as by the Spirit of the Lord." — 2 Cor. iii. 18. Hence the prayer 
of our Saviour, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is 
truth." — John xvii. 17. The Spirit, showing the things of Christ 
to the soul, engraves in it the likeness of God thus discovered, 
and enlarges the capacities of the growing believer for the dis- 
covery and enjoyment of still brighter glories and profounder 
mysteries in the measureless nature of the Most High. 

Whilst the truth is the instrumentality, the Spirit is the effi- 
cient agent, of our sanctification. Xor is it questionable what 
must, in this respect, be the result, when a creature is born of 
God, and has the seed of God, the Spirit of holiness, remaining 
in him: — " Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for 
his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born 
of God." — 1 John iii. 9. "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, 
and the Spirit against the flesh," — Gal. v. 17; and, since the 
Spirit is almighty, it must overcome. Here occurs one of those 
apparent contradictions which are incident to the anomalous 
condition of man, as apostate, and yet not overwhelmed under 
the curse; redeemed, and not yet fitted for heaven. The same 
apostle who declares that he that is born of God cannot sin, says, in 
the beginning of the same short epistle, "If we say that we have 
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. . . . If 
we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his 
word is not in us." — 1 John i. 8, 10. We have already pointed 



sect, vi.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit. 651 

out a characteristic of the renewed man, which is the key to the 
harmony of these seemingly incongruous declarations.* In the 
person of the child of God there co-exist the old man and the 
new, the flesh and the Spirit. The old man, the flesh, although 
crucified and expiring, is not actually dead, but retains a linger- 
ing vitality sufficient to induce continual actings of sin; so that 
the pretence of freedom from actual sin would be a lie. But, on 
the other hand, the sins thus occurring are characteristic of that 
old, carnal nature, which is doomed and dying; they belong not 
to the new man. On the contrary, the new, the inward man, — 
the "I, myself," — delights in God's law, does not allow, and can- 
not commit, sin: — "Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin 
that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my 
flesh, dwelleth no good thing." — Rom. vii. 17, 18. Thus, in the 
renewed man, whilst sin, and sin only, remains in the members — 
the flesh, — his heart is the temple of the Holy Ghost. The in- 
ward man delights in God's law, and abhors the deeds of the 
flesh; so that, most truly is it said that he cannot sin. Nay, 
even the sins of which his flesh is guilty, and for which it is con- 
demned and dying, he allows not; and, whilst he sees a law in 
his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing 
him into captivity to the law of sin, that law in his members is, 
and is felt to be, a hostile power, from which the soul revolts, — 
in regard to which, its constant cry is, "0 wretched man that I 
am! who shall deliver me?" and from which it takes refuge in 
the abundant power of the Redeemer: — "I thank God, through 
our Lord Jesus Christ." — Rom. vii. 23-25. Well, therefore, 
does the apostle state this, as the evidence and test of the reality 
of a work of grace: — "In this the children of God are manifest, 
and the children of the devil." — 1 John iii. 10. 

So long as is needful for the higher blessedness of the elect, in 
their eternal state, and for the glory of God, which is identified 
therewith, they are left to maintain the conflict with corruption, 
but with assurance of complete final victory and triumph : — " In 
all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that 
loved us." — Rom. viii. 37. God worketh in us both to will and 

* Above, page 454. 



652 Tlie Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

to do of his good pleasure; and, having begun such a work, he 
will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. When we see him 
in his glory as he is, we shall be like him. 

That same indwelling Spirit of Christ which is the pledge and 
fountain of perfection to the soul, is the seal and power of the 
1*1. Theresur- resurrection of the body, and of eternal life in 
rection of the heaven. The Captain of salvation, who has under- 
hody - taken the destruction of Satan and his works, will 

not leave one trophy of his people in the hands of the enemy. 
Their very dust shall be gathered, and made to share in the 
triumph and the glory. The Holy Spirit, imparted by Christ 
to his people, and dwelling in them, is the earnest of the inherit- 
ance until the redemption of the purchased possession ; and, that 
earnest being conferred on the body, which is the temple of the 
Holy Ghost, as well as on the soul, the body is thus assured of 
triumph over the curse in the resurrection of life. Accordingly, 
Paul states our communion in Christ as the fundamental prin- 
ciple, in that discussion of the form and manner of the resurrec- 
tion which occurs in the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians : — 
"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
"The first man Adam was made to be a living soul, the last 
Adam to be a quickening Spirit." This doctrine is Paul's fa- 
vourite resort for the consolation of distressed and persecuted 
believers. He describes himself as "persecuted, but not for- 
saken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in 
the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus 
might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are 
always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of 
Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. . . . Knowing 
that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also (dca 
' Irjooi)) through Jesus, and shall present us with you. . . . We 
that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened : not for 
that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality 
might be swallowed up of life. Now, he that hath wrought us 
for the selfsame thing ( 3k xaTspyaadfisuo^ Jj/iaz e«c oLrb touto, 
he that hath so modified our nature by renewing grace as to 
adapt us to this very design) is God, who also hath given unto 



sect, vi.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit 653 

us the earnest of the Spirit.' 7 — 2 Cor. iv. 9-18; v. 1-5. Precisely 
parallel to this is his statement to the Komans, viii. 11-23. He 
asserts that, "if the Spirit of him. that raised up Jesus from the 
dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall 
also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in 
you;' - ' and, having stated the adoption, he adds, "and if children, 
then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be 
that we suffer with him, ( ; always bearing about in the body the 
dying of the Lord Jesus,' — 2 Cor. iv. 10,) that we may be also 
glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this pre- 
sent time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us;" to wit, when our bodies shall be made 
like unto Christ's glorious body. '"'For the earnest expectation 
of the creature (the believer's body) waiteth for the manifesta- 
tion of the sons of Cod. For the body was made subject to 
vanity, (decay and dissolution,) not willingly, but by reason of 
Him who hath subjected the same; in hope that the body itself 
also (as well as the soul) shall be delivered from the bondage of 
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of (rod. For 
we know that {r.aoa jj uriaeo) the bodies of all men (of the world 
at large) together groan and travail in pain until now : and not 
only so, but we also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, (in 
the regeneration of our souls,) even we ourselves groan within 
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our 
body." That \i t v-ioiz) "the creature," here means, the body, 
we conclude, upon several considerations. (1.) The whole repre- 
sentation is an expansion of the assurance given, in verses 17, 
18, of a glory to be revealed in our persons^ compensative for 
the persecutions which the mortal flesh experiences by sharing 
in the sufferings of Christ. (2.) The creature is an heir of de- 
liverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty 
of the sons of G-od. To say that any thing else than the body of 
the believer is co-heir with his soul to that inheritance, is simply 
to destroy the meaning, and deny the reality of the adoption 
itself. (3.) The occasion of the groaning is, in the 23d verse, 
and in the passage from the epistle to the Corinthians, distinctly 
stated. It is a bondage of corruption, from which the body is 



654 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

to be redeemed by the fruition of that adoption, the first fruits 
of which the soul has already realized. The parallelism of this 
verse with the 21st, and its contrast with the 22d ; in which all the 
creatures (the bodies of the unbelieving world) are represented 
as groaning, but without hope, concur to the same conclusion. 
(4.) The identity of the theme and argument, here, and in the 
passage which we have quoted from the second epistle to the 
Corinthians, confirms the conclusion thus attained. 

Thus, then, are the bodies of believers embraced with their 
souls in the redemption of Christ and the adoption of sons of 
God. They are temples of the Holy Spirit, and members of 
Christ, (1 Cor. vi. 15, 19 ;) and as soon may his sceptre itself 
be broken, and the throne of God's glory overturned, as a 
temple of the Spirit fall to ruins, or a member of Christ's body 
be severed. Hence the declaration of Jesus, at the grave of 
Lazarus : — " I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth 
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever 
liveth and believeth in me shall never die." — John xi. 25, 26. 
Even though the mortal body moulder into dust, it is not dis-> 
solved, nor the tie of union between it and the soul severed, 
as it is in those who die under the curse. The Spirit of life 
dwells in the soul, in the bosom of God, and holds possession of 
the clay which mingles with dust. Having once rescued it from 
the power of Satan and the curse, and made it his possession 
and dwelling, — having made the members instruments of holi- 
ness to God, — the almighty Spirit of Christ will never surrender 
his conquest, nor leave his temple. He is a power of unfailing 
vitality to the unconscious clay, — a principle of germination 
whence the glorious body of the resurrection shall arise. (1 Cor. 
xv. 36-38.) God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. 
It is not death which the believer is called to realize ; but a 
sleep, which is destined to a glorious awakening. " The trumpet 
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we 
shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal must put on immortality." — 1 Cor. xv. 52, 
53. Not that we are to be unclothed, — to part with the bodies 
here possessed, — but clothed upon, that mortality may be swal- 



sect, vii.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit 655 

lowed up of life. (2 Cor. v. 4.) Our vile body shall be changed, 
that it may be fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body, accord- 
ing to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things 
unto himself. (Phil. iii. 21.) 

Thus complete is the redeeming work of the Son of God. 
Thus does the woman's Seed utterly defeat the malice of Satan, 
destroy his work, rescue his victims, and reveal God's glorious 
sovereignty, his spotless holiness and eternal love. Thus effectual 
is the quickening energy of the second Adam. Blotting out the 
handwriting that was against his people, and nailing it to his 
own cross, — breaking Satan's yoke from off their necks, and 
renewing them after his own image in the likeness of the Father, 
— he clothes them in the glorious garment of his finished and 
everlasting righteousness ; gives them a right to become sons of 
God, and joint heirs with himself to the inheritance of glory; 
frees them from the power of sin ; adorns them with the perfec- 
tion of every grace; admits them to fellowship with God; and 
fits them to shine in perfection of holiness in heaven ; — and, to 
signalize the completeness of his triumph, the utter discomfiture 
of Satan and removal of the curse, he asserts his title to their 
very dust, and will rescue it from the power of death, and their 
bodies from the grave ; adorn them in the finished beauty of his 
own perfect form, and seat them with himself on the throne of 
supreme dominion in the blessedness of eternal life. Death is 
swallowed up in victory. Death, where is thy sting? 
Grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks be to God, which giveth 
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

But we have not yet contemplated all the effects which are 
wrought by the quickening power of the second Adam. Christ 
§8. The church is not only the Redeemer of the elect individually. 
Christ's body. As the husband is the head of the wife, so " Christ 
is the Head of the church. And he is the Saviour of the body." 
— Eph. v. 23. His title as Head has reference alike to the rela- 
tion which the church sustains as his body and as his bride, — 
relations which, as we have formerly seen, are identical, and 
derived from that of the first Adam to her who was bone of his 
bone, and flesh of his flesh. As the body and bride of the 



656 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

second Adam, the church is, in and with him, the Head, the 
noblest revelation of the infinite glories of the Godhead; and 
that designation by which he is called, " The Head of the Body," 
is the consummate title of the Redeemer, in which, as relates 
to the church, all his other names are involved. He is the 
Prophet, Priest and King of his people. They are taught by 
his word and Spirit, redeemed by his blood and governed by his 
laws. But they are elected and called to all this, in order that, 
incorporated into his body, and pervaded by the Spirit of the 
Head, they may display his perfections, and " show forth the 
praises of him who hath called them." — 1 Pet. ii. 9. They are 
not so much subjects, obedient to his laws, as, members, conformed 
to the Head, and with him co-partners in the kingdom and throne. 
(Rev. iii. 21.) They are not only taught by his formal instruc- 
tions ; rather are they pervaded and enlightened by that very 
same Spirit of knowledge which is his Spirit, and is the truth 
itself. (1 John ii. 20, 27.) They are not merely purchased with 
his blood ; but, as one with him, are partakers of the same suf- 
ferings, to the glory of the same God, and inheritance of the 
same joy. (E,om. viii. 17; Col. i. 24; 1 Pet. iv. 13.) 

It does not enter into our present plan to discuss at length, 
the constitution and history of the church, as viewed in this light. 
The subject would demand to itself a distinct and large treatise. 
We can here only point out two or three of the leading facts as 
bearing upon the general design of the present discussion. 

The Spirit of Christ, as imparted to his people, does not exer- 
cise a merely several and separate indwelling in them indivi- 
dually ; but a common presence, exerting an assimilating and in- 
corporating power, first, into Christ, the Head; and then, of all 
believers into each other, his members. In all, he is the one 
fountain of a common life, which is hid with Christ in God. In 
all, he is the one source of holiness and principle of divine growth. 
In all, he is the one energy and pledge of a glorious resurrection 
from the grave, one power of an endless life in heaven. In all, 
of all generations, whether long since dead, or yet for ages to 
come unborn, he is one bond of identity each with all the rest, 
so that they all are one; and of joint communion and property 



sect, viii.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit. 657 

In the Head; and this, by virtue of the fact that the uniting 
Spirit inhabiteth eternity; and makes no account of the lapse 
of time, the transitions of ages, and the mutations of genera- 
tions. By the one Spirit are all, of all ages, baptized into one 
body, and made partakers of one common life, which, compre- 
hending all time, will continue after time forever on high. 

The body thus created is not a mere aggregation of indivi- 
duals, the mere company of redeemed persons. But, as many 
scriptures certify, it is a thoroughly organized body, symmetri- 
cal in its proportions, and perfect in its members. By this we 
do not mean that organization which results from the formal 
association of believers in visible assemblies, and the appoint- 
ment of officers in them; but a higher, a spiritual organization, 
which, by virtue of common union with the Head, thence imparts 
to the members severally the several gifts requisite for the edi- 
fying of the whole and the fulfilling of its great end. Thus, no 
member is without his own appropriate gifts and offices; and the 
failure of any one to exercise his gifts and fulfil the duties to 
which by the Spirit he is called, results necessarily in marring 
the proportions of the whole body, and impeding all its func- 
tions. " Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer 
with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice 
with it." — 1 Cor. xii. 26. To this purpose Paul argues at large: 
— "Now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. . . . 
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another 
the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by 
the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same 
Spirit ; to another the working of miracles ; to another prophecy : 
to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of 
tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these 
worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man 
severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many 
members, and all the members of that one body, being many, 
are one body; so also is Christ. . . . JSTow ye are the body of 
Christ, and members in particular." — 1 Cor. xii. 4-27. 

Correspondent to the spiritual organization which is here 
spoken of, is the true constitution of the visible church; and in 

42 



658 The Elohim Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

proportion as the power and influences of the organizing Spirit 
are admitted to absolute control in the several branches of the 
visible body, will they be conformed to that constitution. Of its 
form we cannot at present speak. 

In harmony with the office which is filled by the Son of God, 
is that to which he has called and organized his body the church. 
§ 9. it is Us As he is the Adam from heaven, the image of the 
witness. invisible God, the "Word of God, by whom God is 

manifested and made known in all his perfections, — to that end 
has he organized his church, and given her commission to the 
world; — to bear witness to him and the Father. Her Head is 
the faithful and true Witness; — her apostles, prophets and pas- 
tors, are the witnesses to the testimony of Jesus; — and she is 
herself the light of the world. Her commission is given in the 
words of the prophet: — " Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and 
the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold the dark- 
ness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but 
the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon 
thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light; and kings to 
the brightness of thy rising." — Isa. lx. 1-3. Thus, as in the 
darkness of the night, the paler moon shines in the reflected 
light of the sun, so, in the absence of the Sun of righteousness, 
does the church shed abroad the reflected light of his glory. 

It is in reference to the office of the church as thus designed 
to shed abroad- God's glory, that the hieroglyphic by which she 
is symbolized is a candlestick or lamp-stand, with its burning 
lamps. John saw the Son of man in the midst of seven golden 
candlesticks; which were the seven churches; whilst, after the 
same idea, seven stars in his right hand were the angels or officers 
of the seven churches. (Kev. i. 20.) Such was the meaning of 
the candlestick of gold, which stood in the tabernacle and temple 
of old. Burning continually in that part of the sacred place, 
which, veiled from the light of day, symbolized the earth, — as, 
illumined by the shekinah, the holy of holies did heaven, — -it was 
the type of Christ's church, shedding light upon the world. 

The office to which the church is thus set apart, is fulfilled by 
the example of holiness, and the illustration of the power of 



sect, viii.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit 659 

redeeming grace, which she exhibits in herself, — by her oral 
testimony, official and private, — by symbolical teaching, in the 
sacraments, — and by discipline. By example she testifies to the 
competence of Christ's redeeming grace, to the love of the Fa- 
ther, and the renewing and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. 
By example she commends the truth and value of the gospel ; 
whilst she proclaims it, in oral instructions, to the under- 
standings and consciences of men. In the sacraments, she bears 
witness in another mode to the necessity and power of renewing 
and ingrafting grace, and the freeness and virtue of the sacrifice 
of Calvary. In the exercise of discipline, excluding from her 
society and fellowship the unholy, receiving believers and cor- 
recting their faults, she attests the sovereignty and holiness of 
the God whom she worships, and the purity which he requires 
of those who come before him, and marks the separation be- 
tween the people of Christ and of Satan. 

Such being the office to which the church is called, it follows, 
from the fact that in her is the Holy Spirit, — a living Spirit, 
exerting a controlling energy, — that she will always be found 
engaged, with more or less faithfulness, in the performance of 
the functions of her office. Hence the marks of the true 
church : — " Wherever we find the word of Cod purely preached 
and heard, and the sacraments administered according to the 
institution of Christ, there, it is not to be doubted, is a church 
of Christ."* It is "those that profess the true religion/'f as 
well as possess it, who constitute the church ; and it is not the 
pretence of being the true church, nor lineal inheritance from 
those who were the true people of God, but the bearing of a 
testimony to his truth, which is determinate. In this respect, 
Cod's people are not left in the dark, or exposed to any difficulty 
in applying the test. " Though we, or an angel from heaven, 
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have 
preached unto you, let him be accursed." — Cal. i. 8. So, says 
Jesus, " Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's 
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall 
know them by their fruits." — Matt. vii. 15, 16. Thus is the 

* Calvin's Institutes, Book iv. Ch. i. 9. f Confession, Ch. xxv. 2. 



660 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

humblest child of God authorized and qualified to test every 
body which claims to be the church of God, and recognise or 
reject the claim, according to the one criterion of faithfulness in 
testifying, in word and life, to the truth of God as recorded in 
the Scriptures. 

The blindness and depravity which still remain in the flesh of 
Christ's followers have resulted in the division of the true 
church into a number of branches, all of which are so far ap- 
proved that they bear a testimony which accords essentially 
with the truth. But, among them, it must of necessity be that 
some are nearer the standard than others. Hence arises a ques- 
tion which every thoughtful child of God will feel to be of no 
little importance : — How are the various branches of the church 
to be judged in respect to their relative faithfulness and the 
consequent favor and blessing of the Head ? The criterion is 
the same already indicated. (1.) Christ is not to be divided; 
and the Spirit of Christ, dwelling in the whole body, is one. 
Where therefore he most fully dwells, he will develop the most 
perfect sympathy, the most cordial recognition and embrace, 
and the most lively affection for all who call upon the Lord 
Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth, of whatever name. (2.) 
Where the Spirit thus dwells, God's word will be held in the 
highest honour, and its testimony published with the greatest 
faithfulness and freedom from mixture with the traditions of 
men. (3.) The rites which God has ordained, and the institu- 
tions which he has appointed, will be kept pure and entire from 
improvements or additions of men's devising. (4.) The disci- 
pline of God's house will be maintained in its purity; and the 
holiness of the Head will be reflected in the members. In a 
word, where God's Spirit most abundantly dwells, the testimony 
for all the truth of God will, in every form, be most fully and 
faithfully maintained, — the office of the church will be most fully 
performed ; and, as a consequence, the line of separation will 
be most broadly drawn between its spirit and that of the world. 

The church of Christ sprang into life with the utterance of the 
I 10. History promise to the fallen pair in the garden. With the 
of the church, promise, the Spirit was sent to work faith and repent- 



sect, ix.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit. 661 

ance in their hearts ; the exercise of which graces is proved by the 
fact that God gave the seal to faith in the bloody sacrifices which 
he appointed, and in the garments which he made them of the 
skins of the sacrificial animals, typical of the righteousness of 
Christ. The very beginning of the history of the church, thus 
established, was marked by an event — the murder of Abel — 
which signalized the hostility to which the witnessing church 
must ever be subject from the children of the world, the seed of 
the serpent. Says John to the saints, " Ye are not as Cain, who 
was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore 
slew he him ? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's 
righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." — 
1 John iii. 12, 13. In the family of Seth the church was continued, 
whilst Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. But although 
we find an Enoch walking with God, and for his faith and holiness 
translated, yet so alluring to human corruption were the pleasures 
of the world, that the "sons of God" by degrees abandoned their 
profession, and allied themselves with the ungodly, until Noah 
and his family remained alone of all the race, faithful to warn a 
guilty world, when the surging waters of the flood were ready to 
sweep away at once all traces of their existence and their crimes. 

Peacefully borne upon the waters, safe in the midst of universal 
ruin, God preserved his church ; and, no sooner is the danger past, 
than the ransomed family erect an altar, and call upon the Lord, 
who seals with them a covenant of peace, by the bow in the cloud. 
Yet, with the memory of this, God's judgment, ever before them, 
and its monuments all around them, how quickly did the children 
of Noah go astray ! We hear of a pious Abimelech, and of a Mel- 
chizedek, priest of the most high God ; but besides these the whole 
world seems turned to idols. 

The time had now come, in the designs of God, for the organi- 
zation of the church as a distinctive body. The prior dispensa- 
tion was tentative, and the church was, under it, unorganized. 
In it was tried the question, whether the world, voluntarily apos- 
tate, would, as a whole, freely and at once return to the freely 
offered covenant of peace; — whether it would cease from rebel- 
lion, and cordially accept the offers of grace. The result showed 



662 The EloMm Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

the world alike obdurate to the arguments of interest, the per- 
suasions of mercy, and the terrors of judgments; — not only lost 
to holiness and peace, but deliberately and pertinaciously lost to 
the claims of gratitude, the motives of reason and the attrac- 
tions of goodness. But now was the church formally organized, 
for preserving and transmitting the knowledge of the truth to the 
end of time, — for the erection of a standard for God, and main- 
taining a testimony for him against the apostasy of a rebel world. 

Abram was called from Ur of the Chaldees. He buried his 
father, and left his brother's children in Haran, and was at length 
left, by the separation of Lot at Sodom, a pilgrim and a stranger 
upon the earth; alone, with his beloved Sarai. With him was 
established the covenant of peace: — "I will establish my cove- 
nant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their gene- 
rations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to 
thy seed after thee," — Gen. xvii. 7; "and in thy seed shall all 
the nations of the earth be blessed." — Gen. xxii. 18. But the 
church, as erected in the family of Abraham, was not designed 
for the publication of the truth and the proclamation of the pro- 
mise, but to keep and transmit it to others. She was not privi- 
leged to bear forward the standard into the conflict with the 
world and Satan for the possession of the earth, but to guard it, 
planted in the camp, until the day of battle and conquest. Erected 
in Canaan, in the very midst of the lands, its light gleamed afar 
upon the surrounding nations, — shining, not to dispel, but to 
condemn, the darkness. That was the time of the minority of 
the church. As yet immature for her great commission, she 
was "under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of 
the Father." — Gal. iv. 2. The saints of that age, "having ob- 
tained a good report through faith, received not the promise : 
God having provided some better thing for us, that they with- 
out us should not be made perfect." — Heb. xi. 39, 40. 

At length the fulness of time was come, and God sent forth 
his own Son into the world. He "loved the church, and gave 
himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the 
washing of water by the Word; that he might present it to him- 
self a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such 



sect, x.] The Last Adam a Quickening Spirit 663 

thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." — Eph. 
v. 26, 27. Thus, having brought her up for himself, did the Son 
of God celebrate the espousals, purchasing her to himself at a 
price of blood. Then gave he her the world as her field, and 
the nations as her possession, with the promise that "the king- 
dom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the 
whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the 
Most High." — Dan. vii. 27. Thus espoused to himself, and en- 
dowed with a goodly dowry, he left her for a season, to return 
and dwell with her forever. As he departs, he gives her his 
commission of grace: — "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
the gospel to every creature." — Mark xvi. 15. And "when he 
ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts 
unto men;" — gifts of grace to the world, and of love to the 
church. "He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and 
some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the per- 
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify- 
ing of the body of Ghrist."— Eph. iv. 8, 11, 12. 

But though thus organized and commissioned, thus qualified 
and endowed, she may not yet enter on the glory. Not yet is 
the kingdom given to Israel. "It is enough for the disciple that 
he be as his master, and the servant as his lord." — Matt. x. 25. 
It is enough for the bride that she be as her husband. If he 
was abased before the exaltation, — if he shed his blood to win 
the glory, — it is a small thing that she should be partaker in 
the shame and sufferings of her glorious Head. Yet, through 
centuries of imbecility and unfruitfulness, of persecution and 
apostasy, must she learn, that it is not her own arm that 
bringeth salvation; that it is not for her sake — faithless and 
forgetful — that he doeth this, but for his own name's sake; that 
it is not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord 
of hosts, that the world is to be overcome, and the kingdom of 
righteousness and peace established. But she shall at length 
appear in beauty and power. She shall "look forth as the morn- 
ing, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army 
with banners." — Song of Solomon, vi. 10. Hitherto hath she 
rather bowed in widowhood and mourning, than sat as a queen, 



664 The Eloliim Revealed. [chap. xxii. 

or rejoiced as a bride. But the time draws near when her 
beauty, hitherto veiled, shall shine forth; — when, her widow- 
hood ended, her tears shall cease, and sorrow and mourning 
shall flee away. 

Such is she whose beauty delights the King — the bride, glo- 
rious and radiant in purest gold. Her body, the blood-bought 
host. Her office, the vindication of the honour of the Holy One 
in the presence of an apostate world. Her organization fitted 
in perfect adaptation to this end; in the perfection of beauty, — 
the glory of holiness which shines in her person; in the divine 
authority of her apostles, the wisdom and diligence of her evan- 
gelists and prophets, her pastors and teachers; the zeal and 
faithfulness, of her elders, and the charity and self-sacrifice 
of her deacons. Her robes, — of fine linen, spotless white, em- 
broidered with gold, — the marriage gift of her husband. Her 
history, one of affliction and suffering, of toil and triumph, in his 
service. To the carnal eye there is in her, as in the King, no 
form nor comeliness. But to him she is altogether lovely; and to 
all holy beings, how radiant does her person appear, as she stands 
before the world, in the midst of the darkness of man's apostasy 
and sin, and the gloom of the curse, leaning on the arm of the 
Beloved, and testifying of his loveliness and grace; herself the 
purchase of his streaming blood and dying groans; herself his 
commissioned witness to the lost, proclaiming peace and offering 
salvation; herself baptized by that one Spirit with which he was 
anointed ; and her whole being pervaded and quickened with the 
power and vitality of his life; she the fruitful mother of the 
many sons whom he will at length assemble on high. Shining 
in glory forever, sharing with the King in his throne, his sceptre 
and power, shall she present the perfection of beauty and the 
fruition of joy. In her will a wondering universe behold the 
riches of God's condescending grace, and the majesty of the 
Lamb's redeeming power; her countenance, beaming in his per- 
fect likeness, and her beauty and blessedness, her history and 
state, the noblest display of the unsearchable depths of (rod's 
glorious wisdom and ineffable love, the subject of angelic studies, 
and the theme of all heaven's adoring song. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

cheist's kingdom and glory. 

In the preceding pages we have traced some of the grand 
outlines of the wonderful system of divine wisdom and love. 
§ l.Becapitu- Of the whole discussion, this is the sum. The 
lation. entire work of God has its origin in his eternal 

purpose to make himself known, to the glory of his own per- 
fections, the infinite blessedness and honour of man, and the 
eternal happiness of all the holy creatures. That purpose was 
embodied in a perfect and all-embracing plan, which was devised 
by infinite wisdom, and the fulfilment of which is secured by the 
mutual covenant and oath of the Persons of the Godhead. By 
that covenant the Son of God was installed the revealing Medi- 
ator, through whom alone any creature can ever come to the 
knowledge of God ; and through whom all holy beings shall 
attain to an adoring, loving and obedient communication with 
the invisible One. By it he was set up the eternal King and 
Head over all things, — to whose omnipotent and glorious sceptre 
the fulfilment of the plan is intrusted, — and ordained Head of 
the elect, the church, in which, with him, the grand elements of 
the covenant concentrate their interest, and the glories of the 
Godhead pre-eminently shine. By the covenant Mediator was 
the material universe made out of nothing, and so organized 
and adapted, so upheld and governed, as to constitute at once a 
platform for the development of the plan and a proclamation of 
the being, power and godhead of the Creator. The angelic 
intelligences were called into being by him, and endowed with 
intellectual and moral powers which qualify them to behold and 
appreciate the work of God, and in it discover and adore his 
perfections, alike as seen in the material creation, revealed 

665 



666 The EloMm Revealed. [chap, xxiii. 

in their own moral natures, discovered to their consciences, and 
unfolded in the successive chapters of the plan. Their moral 
natures constitute the first announcement of a moral nature in 
God. Of it the holy law is a distinct exposition in didactic 
form, its precepts being a transcript of the perfections of that 
very nature. The authority of that law consists in the pro- 
prietary right of God as the self-existent Creator ; and its ex- 
cellence, in the fact that it is an expression of his perfections, to 
the imitation of which it calls the creatures ; whilst its unalter- 
able and imperative mandate asserts his absolute authority, its 
promise proclaims his goodness, and its penal curse reveals the 
spotless purity of his holiness, the sovereignty of his sceptre, 
the strictness of his justice and terribleness of his wrath. In 
the holiness of the elect angels is exemplified the excellence of 
God's moral perfections, whilst their blessedness exhibits, in its 
simplest form, the greatness of his goodness and love. Those 
perfections are brought out in yet stronger relief by the con- 
trasted wickedness of Satan's apostasy, and his moral deformity 
and that of his followers; whilst naked justice and unmingled 
wrath shine forth in their perdition. 

But whilst the godhead of the Eternal is signally proclaimed 
in the creation, and the broad outlines of his moral perfections 
set forth in his holy law, and illustrated in the angels, holy and 
apostate, — and whilst that law is an unambiguous intimation of 
the plurality of the subsistence of the one God, by virtue of the 
fact that a moral nature implies relation, and, therefore, com- 
munity, — yet were further means requisite for the exhibition 
of the glories of God in unclouded light ; for the discovery of 
unbounded wisdom, unspotted holiness and unfaltering justice, 
in triumphant harmony with infinite love and compassion, 
boundless mercy and grace, exercised toward the apostate and 
depraved ; and for the unfolding of the mystery of the tri-per- 
sonality of the divine subsistence, and the nature and mode of 
the relations of the Three who subsist in the one essence of the 
invisible God. This earth is the chosen scene of these dis- 
coveries, and man their subject. The dispensation in which they 
are embraced is heralded by that creative Word, " Let there 



sect, i.] Christ's Kingdom and Glory. 667 

be light!" and its close is wrapped in the unspeakable glories 
of that day when the blessed shall dwell in the light of God's 
very presence, and behold the unveiled glory of his immediate 
face. Man is created in the image and likeness of God ; and, as 
such, enthroned in the presence of the admiring intelligences of 
heaven, in dominion over all things, by a decree, the extensive 
meaning of which is only at length discovered, in the exaltation 
of the Second Man, in his universal dominion and eternal throne. 
In man, thus created, the moral likeness of God was inscribed 
in his moral nature, endowed with reason, conscience and will, 
and clothed with knowledge, righteousness, holiness, freedom 
and dominion ; whilst the natural relations of the divine Per- 
sons to each other are shadowed forth in his generative and 
breathing nature ; and the unity of the divine essence is attested 
by that of the nature, which, one in the first man, is propagated 
to his seed : shadows, these, which, however obscure, harbinger 
the light which shines in the second Adam and his body the 
church. 

Seduced by Satan, man fell from honour, apostatized from 
holiness, and rebelled against God. The suspension of the 
stroke of justice was the announcement of perfections as yet 
undiscovered in the divine nature, — of love to the ungodly, of 
mercy to the guilty, and justice in harmony with forgiving grace; 
and the utterance of the promise with its gradually unfolding 
light, was a proclamation of that everlasting covenant in the 
provisions of which the moral nature of God and the relations 
of the Three, are so signally revealed to the veiled adoration of 
the creatures. 

In the fulfilment of that covenant, the Son of God clothes him- 
self in flesh and appears upon earth arrayed in a glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father. As the whole antecedent creative 
and providential administration of the Son was preliminary to 
his own personal entrance upon the stage, so all the other irra- 
diations of the divine glory concentrate their light in his per- 
son, relations and work. He is the Alpha and Omega, the 
beginning and the end. In him are hid all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge. If the creation proclaims a Great First 



The Elohim Revealed. [chap, xxiii. 

Cause, — He by whom all things were made ; and in whom they 
consist, announces the Father, that Cause. If the moral intel- 
ligences, angelic and human, in their endowments shadow forth 
the moral attributes of the Godhead, — those which shine in the 
Son are the very counterpart of the Father's perfections. If the 
law constitutes a mirror of those perfections in another form, 
that law shines in its most exalted majesty in the obedience of 
Christ; its excellence, in the righteousness which he wrought; 
and its justice, in the curse which he bore. The covenant of 
works attested the divine beneficence, proposing the gratuitous 
dispensation of eternal life, upon condition of the uncertain obe- 
dience of the creatures. How rich, then, the grace which the 
everlasting covenant reveals, bestowing, not merely eternal life, 
but sonship to Cod, membership in Christ, and joint inheritance 
with him in the kingdom and glory of God, upon the sole con- 
dition of the infallible righteousness of the very Son of God him- 
self. The first man was of the earth, earthy; yet was counted 
worthy to be installed the official likeness of God. But the 
second man is himself the Lord from heaven. Himself the 
Second Person of the Trinity, — by nature the express image of 
the Father's Person, — and by the Father endowed with the Holy 
Spirit without measure, — in him thus clwelleth all the Fulness 
of the Godhead bodily. In his person thus gloriously endowed, 
— in the purpose which brought him to earth, and his work here 
accomplished, — in his obedience to the law, — in his conquest of 
Satan, endurance of the curse, and ascension to heaven, — in the 
glory there possessed, and the dominion thence exercised, — in 
the organization of his church, — in his relation as her Head,— in 
the erection by her of a testimony to his word, the ingathering 
of the elect, the inheritance to which they are called, and the 
perdition of his enemies, — in the distinctive agency of the seve- 
ral Persons of the Godhead in the work of Grace, — in these va- 
rious and wonderful forms have we the elements of that dispen- 
sation of light of which the Sun of righteousness is the source. 
o 2 jfasiak's Having by his obedience vindicated the perfection 
kingdom. f the law, and fulfilled an everlasting righteousness, 

and by his sufferings and death atoned for sin, the Son of man 



sect, l] Christ's Kingdom and Glory. 669 

arose from the dead ascended to glory, and assumed the cove- 
nant throne, and that dominion over all creatures to which man 
was ordained, in his creation. Him "the heaven must re- 
ceive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath 
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world 
began." — Acts iii. 21. 

Although thus enthroned in absolute and universal dominion, 
angels and principalities and powers being subject to him, the past 
ages of the administration of the Son of God have been in a 
great measure a time of the hiding of his power. Heretofore, 
he has been pleased to allow the depravity and wickedness of man 
to develop itself upon a gigantic scale, in a multitude of forms, 
through successive ages, and despite every variety of persuasive 
and restraining influences. Thus is developed in appalling form 
the evidence and measure of the malignant evil of man's sin, 
and the unworthiness and depravity of that race for whom God's 
love provided the blood of Calvary. Heretofore, of the adult 
population of the earth, the great multitude have lived in open 
rebellion against God, and died without hope. 

Wha,t remains is veiled under the shadows of the future. But 
the lamp of prophecy discloses the dim outlines of the coming 
administration of Messiah's kingdom, and the triumphant 
consummation of his glorious reign. It is not for us "to 
know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in 
his own power." — Acts i. 7. But the fact is declared in the most 
unambiguous terms, that, deep as were the humiliation and shame 
of the incarnate Son in the days of his flesh, proportionately 
great shall be the exaltation, the dominion and glory, which he - 
shall enjoy on this very earth which witnessed his temptations 
and quaked at his dying cry ; — that proportionate to the pre- 
ciousness of his atoning blood, and dignity of his Mediatorial 
person, will be the number of the trophies of his redeeming 
grace; — that although Satan may be permitted to deceive the 
world for a season, and even seem to maintain a doubtful struggle 
for the mastery of the nations and the defeat of the purposes of 
God and the grace of Messiah, his overthrow will be as complete 
as his pride and malice are great, and the reward of all his wiles 



670 The Elohim Revealed, [chap, xxiii. 

will be returned upon himself in utter discomfiture, eternal de- 
struction and overwhelming shame. Without attempting to 
enter into the prophetic question, or to dogmatize on the subject, 
the following points may be stated, as clearly presented on the 
face of the sacred record. 

1. The kingdom of Messiah on earth will be inaugurated in 
some manner as signal, and his throne be established in a sove- 
§3. its corning reignty as emphatically announced, and as distinctly 
trill be sudden, recognised, as though he himself should come in per- 
son, in the glory of the Father, to set it up. Of this we can 
only cite two or three points of the evidence: — "Thou sawest," 
says Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, "till that a stone was cut out 
without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were 
of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, 
the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces to- 
gether, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors ; 
and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for 
them: and the stone that smote the image (mn) was a great 
mountain, and filled the whole earth." Of this vision Daniel 
gives the interpretation: — "In the days of these kings shall the 
God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed : 
and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall 
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall 
stand forever."— Dan. ii. 34, 35, 44. The elate of this transac- 
tion is here given. It is to be in the time of the ten kingdoms 
which were to arise out of the Roman empire. The nature of 
the transaction is equally clear. Those kingdoms are destined 
to an overthrow sudden as the smiting of a stone. 

Equally distinct and unequivocal is the parallel prophecy of 
the seventh chapter of Daniel. In the days of the little horn, — 
the papal power, — Daniel " beheld till the thrones were cast down, 
and the Ancient of days did sit. ... I beheld then because of the 
voice of the great words which the horn spake : I beheld even 
till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the 
burning flame. ... I saw in the night visions, and behold, one 
like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came 
to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 



sect, ii.] Christ s Kingdom and Glory. 671 

And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, 
that all people, nations and languages, should serve him." — Dan. 
vii. 9-14. 

Of that man of sin and son of perdition, which is designated 
in Daniel's prophecy as the little horn, Paul says, respecting his 
own time, that "the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only 
he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall 
consume with the Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with 
the brightness of his coming." — 2 Thess. ii. 7, 8. In harmony 
with these testimonies is that of John in the Eevelation: — "And 
the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there 
came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, 
saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and 
lightnings ; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not 
since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so 
great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the 
cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remem- 
brance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the 
fierceness of his wrath." — Bev. xvi. 17-19. "And after these 
things I saw another angel come down from heaven, and the 
earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with 
a strong voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. . . . 
Her plagues shall come in one day, death, and mourning, and 
famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with fire : for strong is 
the Lord God that judgeth her. . . . And a mighty angel took 
up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, 
Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, 
and shall be found no more at all." — Bev. xviii. 1, 2, 8, 21. 

Without appeal to the many other corresponding scriptures, 
we take the following points to be abundantly manifest in these : 
— (1.) The Boman papal power will be the last of those anti- 
Christian kingdoms by which Satan's sceptre is exercised on the 
earth. The coming and kingdom of Christ are coincident, in 
time, with its utter overthrow. Its destruction is to be occa- 
sioned by that coming. (2.) That destruction will be sudden, 
violent and utter, — as the dashing of an image in pieces ; as the 



672 The Elohim Revealed. [chap, xxiii. 

plunging of a millstone in the sea; as the consuming flame of 
Jehovah's breath. (3.) It will be accomplished in a manner sig- 
nally impressive to the spectators. The shock of an earthquake 
of unparalleled violence, the overthrow of the cities of the na- 
tions, the mournings and wailings of the people and kings of the 
earth, and the triumphant Allelulias of God's people, are the 
attendant circumstances. (4.) The kingdom of Christ, then esta- 
blished, will never pass away. It may be administered under 
other forms of increasing glory ; but that throne, once established, 
will be the final kingdom of earth, the eternal dominion of Im- 
manuel. It " shall never be destroyed;" "and the kingdom shall 
not be left to other people," as the Persians yielded the sceptre 
to the Greeks, and they, again, to the Romans; "but it shall 
stand forever." — Dan. ii. 44. 

2. A second point which is fully attested in the Scriptures is, 
that, under Messiah's reign thus established, the sceptre of 
£ 4. Aiijiesh grace will exercise an unlimited and undivided sway 
shall be holy. ver the entire earth, subduing sin and blotting out 
the curse. Satan will be bound, man's depravity subdued, the 
idols abolished, ignorance dispelled, the curse taken off the earth, 
the fruitfulness of Eden restored, and sorrow and mourning shall 
flee away. God declares by Jeremiah, " This shall be the covenant 
that I will make with the house of Israel : After those days, saith 
the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it 
in their hearts ; and will be their God, and they shall be my 
people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, 
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all 
shall know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of 
them." — Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. Should any be disposed to limit 
this promise to Israel after the flesh, the language in respect to 
the Gentiles is equally strong : — " In this mountain shall the 
Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast 
of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on 
the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain 
the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is 
spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory ; 
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces." — Isa. 



sect, in.] Christ's Kingdom and Glory. 673 

xxv. 6-8. Again, says God to the Messiah, "It is a light thing 
that thou shouldst be my Servant to raise, up the tribes of 
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give 
thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salva- 
tion to the end of the earth." — Isa. xlix. 6. So, he says to the 
nations, " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth : for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by 
myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and 
shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every 
tongue shall swear." — Isa. xlv. 22, 23. In short, "The earth 
shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as 
the waters cover the sea." — Hab. ii. 14. 

In respect to such language as this, which presents itself 
everywhere in the Bible, there are two or three remarks which 
must commend themselves to the reverent students of that 
book : — (1.) These prophecies all unanimously point to one time, 
the time of the kingdom of the son of David. (2.) Were it the 
design of the Spirit of truth to describe a time in which holiness 
should be universal, the curse blotted out, and the world an un- 
spotted trophy of God's redeeming grace, it would be utterly 
impossible to find stronger language to express it than that which 
is actually used. (3.) The statements of the Scriptures on the 
subject present themselves as standards by which we are to 
estimate the extent of the Redeemer's triumph over Satan, sin 
and the curse. It would seem as though that triumph would 
be incomplete if this earth, where Satan and sin have ruled so 
long, were not the scene of a reign of holiness as glorious as 
these prophecies describe. 

3. Whether we count the thousand years, which are stated by 
John, (Rev. xx. 2,) as prophetic time, numbering three hundred 
I 5. The time and sixty-five thousand secular years, or regard 
protracted. them as a definite for an indefinite period im- 
mensely great, — the kingdom of Christ on earth shall have a 
continuance amply sufficient to vindicate the honour of God in 
respect to the brief centuries of Satan's dominion. The earth, 
blooming in an Eden fertility, and sustaining an innumerable 
population, will render to heaven a revenue of souls redeemed 

43 



674 The Elohim Revealed. [chap, xxiii. 

which, as compared in number with the lost, will fully manifest 
the triumph of the Eedeemer in respect to that aspect of his 
conflict with Satan, and victory over his malice. The throng 
which will stand before the Lamb in his glory, washed and 
made white in his blood, will be a great multitude, which no 
man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
tongues. 

"Then cometh the end." Blessed as are the subjects of the 
millennial sceptre, theirs is not the final inheritance of the saints. 
I 6. Satan's Glorious as is the sovereignty then exercised by the 
last struggle. Prince of peace, and abject as will be Satan in chains, 
yet more glorious shall be the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and 
more signal his power and vengeance on the enemy. The happy 
scenes of the millennial age have no persuasive influence on Satan, 
to reconcile his heart to holiness, or subdue his hate against God. 
His own experience of the omnipotent power of the Son, holding 
him in bonds through all those ages, has not quelled his rebel- 
lion, or taught him to restrain his impotent rage. One more 
lesson will he serve to teach the adoring disciples in the school 
of the incarnate Word, before the mystery is finished. As a 
final illustration of the enormous and intolerable evil of sin, he 
is loosed out of his prison. Immediately he resumes his charac- 
ter of liar-seducer, and goes out to deceive the nations which are 
in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather 
them together to battle. Whether he is permitted to induce a 
general apostasy of the subjects of Messiah, as some have ima- 
gined, — or whether, contemporaneous with his loosing from prison, 
the wicked dead will be raised, and permitted to give this final 
display of their unrelenting wickedness, as others have supposed, 
— a host is gathered, in number as the sand of the sea. "And 
they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the 
camp of the saints about, and the beloved city : and fire came 
down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the 
devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brim- 
stone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be 
tormented day and night for ever and ever." — Eev. xx. 9, 10. 

In immediate connection with the account which John gives 



sect, v.] Christ's Kingdom and Glory. 675 

of this final overthrow and doom of Satan, he announces the last 
§ 7. The last judgment, and the consummation of all things. That 
judgment. tremendous assize is heralded with a shout, and the 

voice of the archangel, and the trump of (rod. And lo ! the Son 
of man cometh in the fiery chariot of God. Thousand thousands 
stand before him, and ten thousand times ten thousand minister 
unto him. The chariots of God are twenty thousand; the Lord 
is among them : whilst all the mighty angels wait in his train. 
At the sound of his coming, his sleeping saints awake, incor- 
ruptible ; and, with the living transformed, are caught up to meet 
him, with songs of praise and shouts of joy. The glory of the 
Father robes his person, the sceptre of the Father fills his hand, 
and the Father's throne is his seat of judgment. The wicked 
nations are cited to his tribunal, and in shrieking despair 
strive in vain to hide from the wrath of the Lamb. The legions 
of Satan in terror obey his omnipotent call, and recognise this 
as the time of their doom. Every creature appears before the 
Son of man, and every eye beholds the glory of the victim of Gal- 
vary. Displaying the wounds in his person, and recalling the 
days of his flesh, he claims his elect as his righteous and cove- 
nant reward. In them all creatures see his image, — their bodies 
fashioned like his glorious body, and robed in the image of his 
own revealed glory; their souls perfect in his holiness; their 
persons united to him by his Spirit, and clothed in garments 
washed in his blood, and their names recorded in his book of 
life. He says to them, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 
"Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. 
Sit ye, therefore, with me in my throne." And amid the ad- 
miring songs of the seraphic host, and the despairing rage of 
their enemies and his, the Judge receives the partakers of his 
sufferings and shame to be sharers of his throne and assessors in 
the judgment: — "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the 
world? . . . Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" — 1 Cor. 
vi. 2, 3. 

At that tribunal the elect angels appear. Of them, too, the 
second Man, the eternal Son, is the sovereign and judge. The 



676 The Elolrim Revealed, [chap, xxiii. 

Father, who "set him at his own right hand in the heavenly 
places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and do- 
minion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, 
but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under 
his feet," did so in order that "in the dispensation of the fulness 
of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both 
which are in heaven and which are on earth." — Eph. i. 20-22, 10. 

That blessed host is called before him. In his work of crea- 
tion, — in his providential government, and his holy law, — in 
their own natures and history, and in those of the apostate 
angels, — in the nature and history of the first Adam and his 
race, and the second Adam and his redeemed, they have been 
adoring learners of the mystery and glory of the invisible God; 
and by Christ's Spirit have been upheld in faithfulness, and built 
up in growing holiness. And now by the touch of his golden 
sceptre are they confirmed in holiness, and sealed to eternal 
life. 

The books of record of the deeds of the wicked are opened. 
The wickedness of their rebellions and sins is displayed. God's 
long-suffering and love- are made manifest; and his justice pro- 
claimed and approved by the holy ones ; — and the Judge pro- 
nounces the doom: — "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlast- 
ing fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Driven from 
his presence, they are cast into the lake of fire, where the devil 
and the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day 
and night for ever and ever. "And death and hell were cast 
into the lake of fire." Sole monument of God's retributive 
wrath, that pit of woe will forever remain, — its accursed pri- 
soners trophies of the power and justice of the Son of man, — as 
their wickedness testifies to the boundless depths of His compas- 
sion who died for such, and to the glory of the transforming grace 
by which the redeemed, by nature such as these, are fitted for 
heaven. Shut up in hell, death and the grave and the curse 
will be known no more. 

Attended by saints and angels, principalities and powers, — 
accompanied with the trumpet of God, the harps of heaven and 



sect, vil] Christ's Kingdom and Glory. 677 

1 3. The king. ^e son g s °f universal praise, — will the triumph of 
dom delivered the Conqueror of death and hell come to the throng 
to the Father. £ fl^ Father. He there presents the angelic hosts, 
— monuments of his goodness and power, — and the redeemed, — 
trophies of his love ; — all of whom, saints and angels, are elect 
of the Father, and beloved from everlasting. " Behold I and 
the children which thou hast given me." His angels are ap- 
proved; his redeemed accepted; the Mediator of the covenant 
justified on its terms; and its finished work proclaimed. Then 
shall the Son also deliver up the kingdom to G-od even the Father. 
Not the throne of David; for that is his as David's Son. Not 
the sceptre of his grace, by which he is Prophet, Priest and King 
of his redeemed. That belongs to him as Head of the body, — - 
it was purchased by him at the price of his blood, and sealed to 
him in the eternal covenant. But he resigns that sceptre, that 
throne and headship over all things, which w^as given to him in 
the covenant, as the vicegerent, the image and revealer, of the 
invisible (rod, — the Lord of all creatures on the Father's behalf. 
Nor does Immanuel cease to be the coequal Son. Having over- 
come, he sitteth forever with the Father in his throne, — the 
throne of God and the Lamb. But He, the Father, — who was 
known, before, only through the Son, — dwelling thenceforth in 
the new Jerusalem, admits his creatures into his own immediate 
presence; unveils his own face to their adoring view; and bestows 
upon them, with his own hand, the treasures of his love. 
1 9. The new Purged by fire and renewed, the earth is fitted 

Jerusalem. f or the abode of God ; and the holy city, new Je- 
rusalem, comes down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband. In the midst of its street flows the 
river of the water of life from the throne of God and the Lamb ; 
and on either side of the river is the tree of life, which bears 
twelve manner of fruits, and yields her fruit every month; and 
the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. In it 
is no temple; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the 
temple of it. Before the very throne itself the saints present 
their offerings and utter their praises. " Behold, the tabernacle 
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall 



678 The Elohim Revealed. [chap, xxiii. 

be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their 
God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither 
shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed 
away. And he that sat upon the throne said ; Behold I make 
all things new. And he said, It is done. I am Alpha and 
Omega, the beginning and the end." It is done. — The mystery 
of God manifested in the flesh is finished. The terms of the ever- 
lasting covenant are fulfilled, and its objects accomplished. The 
matchless glories of the divine perfections have been made 
known, and the creatures blessed in the knowledge. The wick- 
edness of sin has been demonstrated; and the sovereignty and 
justice, the power and wisdom, the grace and wrath of the 
Father illustrated, by occasion thereof. Death is swallowed up 
in victory, the curse blotted out, life and immortality brought 
to light, and Eden restored. 

What the revelations contained in the book of God then 
opened, they will know who shall have part in the marriage- 
supper of the Lamb. But of this we are assured : — There shall 
be no night there. Nor will they have need of the sun, neither 
of the moon, to shine upon them, for the Lord God giveth them 
light, the glory of God doth lighten them, and the Lamb is their 
light. And they shall reign for ever and ever. 

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth 
wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name, for ever 
and ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. 
Amen and Amen. 



INDEX. 



Abelard, on original sin, p. 26; on the nominal philosophy, 26. 

Abel's death, 272. 

Ability, natural and moral, 524. 

Abrahamic covenant. — Embraced Abraham's seed, 315. Its history, 549, 
662. 

Actions. — Designed to shadow forth the divine activity, 248 ; to discover 
the moral nature of the agent, 248 ; have in themselves no moral 
character, 255. 

Adam. — The image and likeness of God, 132; of God the Triune, 143. 
His name, 133. That likeness was in presence of the universe, 
135. His body immortal, 136. His soul, 152. His moral powers, 
152, 172. His knowledge, mature, 173 ; extensive, 174; and perfect, 
181. His righteousness and holiness, — the difference, 182. His 
dominion, 184; it Christ possesses, 96. He was under law, had 
there been no covenant, 281. The covenant was gratuitous to him, 
280. The law and covenant were written in his heart, in his crea- 
tion, 155, 286., 323. His creation was that of man generically, 133, 
428, 496, 507. He was the covenant head of the race, 305. Cause 
of his headship, 308. Key to the family constitution, 314. As a 
father he was a type of Christ, 322, 421. The parallel between 
them, 319. The apostasy, 385. It took place by man's free will, 
386. It was an assumption of bondage to sin, 395, 531. Elements of 
the sin, 475, 543. The sin intrinsically ours, 427, 474 ; this the doc- 
trine of Poole and Parous, 474; of Goodwin, 42, 499 ; of Rutherford, 
468 ; of Owen, 443 ; of Boston, 45 ; of the Reformed confessions, 29 ; 
of the continental divines, 34; of the Westminster Assembly, 39. 
It does not prevent but establish personal responsibility, 500. 

Adam, — The Second, 578. He was the antitype of the first, 322, 421. 
The parallel, 319. His true manhood, 579; it was sinless, 587. 
His divinity, 588. In his person, the fulness of the Triune God- 
head, and of redeemed humanity, 602. His obedience, 613. His 
submission to the curse, 615. He bore the very penalty of the law, 
620. How he came under the curse, 606. His conflicts with Satan, 
628. His finished work, 635. His ascension to heaven, 637. His 
the Adamic throne, 96, 667. His kingdom, 665, 668. He is a quick- 
ening Spirit, 638. Manner in which he bestows his redemption, 
and elements of it, 638-655. The church his body, 656. His 
kingdom and glory, 665, 668. He will sit as judge, 675. 

Adoption, occurs through union with the eternal Son, 69, 646. It conveys 
a title to the kingdom and inheritance with Christ, 647. 

Alexander (A.), on motives and the will, 161. 

(J. A.), on the title, "Father of Ages/ 1 ' 353. 

Ambrose of Milan, on original sin, 16. 

Angels. — Their creation, 90. They are causative agents, 122. Are wit- 
nesses and students of the revealed glory of God, 90, 97, 136, 141. 

679 



680 Index. 

Are subject with man to the moral law, 214. Will be confirmed 
by Christ at the judgment, 577, 676. 

Aristotle's definition of liberty, 171 ; and of the soul, 344. 

Armageddon, 674. 

Apostasy of Adam, 385. It was by free will, 386. It was of man's nature, 
246, 395. It is the crime of the race, 427, 474. We owe contrition 
for it, 44, 496. The criminality of the apostasy, and that of the 
depravity embraced are one and inseparable, 527. 

Articles of the church of England, on original sin, 31. 

Augustine, on the origin of the soul, 19, 335, 368, 375 ; on the doctrine 
of original sin, 19, 496 ; on the exposition of Eom. v. 14, 420. 

Baptism into Christ, 610. 

Barnes, on Adam's primitive condition, 175; on the evil of sin, 260; on 

Eom. v. 12, 412; on the penalty of the law, 264; on the satisfaction 

of Christ, 616. 
Baronius, on the origin of the soul, 341. 
Basle confessions, on original sin, 29, 30. 
Beecher (E.), on God's sovereignty, 191. He sets fate above God, 194. 

His doctrine that of Eousseau and Paine, 197. His principles of 

honour and right, 191. These principles are Brahma, 210. His 

doctrine eclipses God's glory, 235. His experiment of them, 207. 

Princeton Eeview upon his doctrine of apparent causation, 491. 

His testimony on human depravity, 510. 
Belgic confession, on original sin, 31. 
Bellamy, on God's sovereignty, 188. His optimism, 400. 
Blackstone's definition of a covenant, 295. 
Boston, on original sin, 45, on the covenant of grace, 608. 
Brahma, and Beecher's "Principles of honour and right," 210. 
Breath, the image of the Holy Spirit, 151. 
Breckinridge, on man's generative likeness to God, 141; on the oneness 

of the race, 435 ; on the imputation of Adam's sin, 504. 
Brief Sum, by the Westminster Assembly, 41, 287. 
Broavn of Haddington, on the eternal generation, 75. 

Calvin, on the imputation of Adam's sin, 34; on that of Christ's right- 
eousness, 435 ; on adoption, 69 ; on the use of the word, guilt, 463 ; 
on Eom. v. 19, 444. 

Cartesian philosophy. — Its pantheistic tendency, 104. 

Causation. — Scripture doctrine, 101, 113. Edwards' theory, 103. Taylor 
of Norwich holds the same, 103, 106. It is unscriptural, 110. 

Cause and effect. — Office of the law, 200, 247, 370, 372. Incongruity of 
the theory of the immediate creation of souls, with this law, 374. 

Christ, was God, 588. His humanity, 367, 579 ; it was sinless, 587. Origin 
of his soul, 367. Union with his people, 597, 607. His obedience, 
613. His conflicts with Satan, 628. His sufferings, 632. They 
were the very penalty of the law, 620. He was "made sin/' 441. 
His finished obedience, 635. How he came under the curse, 606. 
He suffered for the elect, 610. His justifying righteousness, 642. 
Union with him, 590, 640. Inbeing in him, 429. t How wrought, 
638. Eesults, 640-655. His members have complacence in his 
righteousness, 448. The church his body, 590, 655. It is a spirit- 
ually organic body, 657. Its office, 658. Its history, 660. Its inhe- 
ritance, 064, 676. His kingdom and glory, 665. His judgment 
throne, 558, 675. He is the mediatorial revealer of God to all crea- 



Index. 681 

tures, 573. By him the angels confirmed, 577, 676. See Adam, The 
Second. 

Church, the body of Christ, 590, 655. An organic body, 657. It is God's 
witness, 658. Design of the ordinances, 658. Its history, 660. Its 
inheritance, 664, 676. 

Communion with God, 647. 

Confession of the Remonstrants, on original sin, 37, 38. 

Confessions of the Eeformed church on original sin, 29, et seq. 

"Conflict of Ages" (Beecher's) on God's sovereignty, 191; on inherent 
depravity, 510. 

Conscience, not attributable to God, 203, 236. Its nature, functions and 
office, 153, 203, 236. That of Adam infallible, 155. It is depraved 
by the fall, 520. 

"Constituted" relations, unreal and false, 330. In them Abelard and 
Edwards meet, 47. 

"Constitution." — Use of the word by Edwards and his followers, 109. 

Covenant. — The word defined, 295. 

Covenant of grace, — Boston on it, 608. See Everlasting covenant. 

Covenant of works, made with the race, generically, and engraven on 
its nature, 280, 288, 311, 323. It was a real covenant, 295. Gra- 
tuitous, 280. Had two forms, native and positive, 282, 310. Its pro- 
mise and seals, 283, — the garden, 282 ; the river of life, 284 ; the trees, 
284, 292 ; the Sabbath, 285. Date of the promise, 286. The positive 
constitution, 299; effect of it, 300, 310. 

Creation. — Relation of the Father to the work, 52. That of the Son, 53. 
That of the Holy Spirit, 53. Office of the material creation, 90. 
Its immensity, 91. It is God's instrument, 114, 120. 

Creationism, theory as to the origin of the soul, 337. Its relation to mira- 
cles, 370 ; to the law of cause and effect, 372 ; and to the doctrine 
of original sin, 375, 377. It is Manichea-Pelagianism, 378. 

Creator, God the Triune, 51. The name of the Creator plural, 52. Pro- 
prietary right of the Creator, 201, 211. 

Creature. — The word in Rom. viii. 11-23 means, the body, 653. 

Culverwell, on the origin of the soul, 375. 

Curse, how laid on Christ, 606. It was the very penalty of the law, 615, 
620. He bore it for none but his members, his elect, 610. It is 
signified by the word, death, 276. 

Dana, on species, 145. 

David, the covenant with him, 551. 

Death, the penalty of the law, 263 ; not a metaphor, 268 ; not physical 
dissolution, 274. It is God's inflicted curse, 276. It is the wages 
of sin, 419, 428. Meaning of the word in Rom. v. 12, 414. 

Death, bodily, the original portion of the brutes, 137. It came upon 
man by sin, 274. Case of Abel, 272. 

De Moor, on the imputation of Adam's sin, 505. 

Depravation of man's nature in Adam, 395, 428, 450, 531. It was penal, 266, 
530; but not caused by the interposition of God, 395,531. It and the 
resulting depravity are inseparable elements in the sin of man, 527. 

Depravity. — History of opinion on native, 11. Pelagian and Socinian tes- 
timony to the fact, 510. Its evil, 511. Its elements, 517. It en- 
slaves the whole nature, 519. Paul's representation, 425, 451. 
Doctrine of other scriptures, 521. Its sinfulness flows from the apos- 
tasy, 43, 498, 499. The propagation of it, 529. Creation theory of 
its propagation. 375. Penal privation theory, 536. 



682 Index, 

Derzhavin. — Poetic lines from, 94. 

Devils, to be included among natural causes, 122. They owe obedience 

even in hell, 217-220. Their final doom, 674. 
Dickinson, on the imputation of Adam's sin, 507. 
Doctrinal truth gradually developed, 11. 

Dominion given to man, 184. It is verified in Messiah's throne, 96. 
Dort Synod, on original sin, 38. 
Dualism of the creation theory as to the origin of the soul, 365. 

Earth, the throne of God's moral revelation, 95. 

Eden, the garden, 282; a type of heaven, 283. The river, 284, 677; the 
trees, 284, 292, 677. It is restored by the second Adam, 676. 

Edwards' philosophy, 47. Its tendency is Pelagian, 48. His doctrine 
of second causes, 103. It is unscriptural, 110 ; and pantheistic, 111. 
His doctrine of identity, 105, 112. His use of the word "consti- 
tution," 109. His doctrine of the will, 160; of motives, 163. His 
definition of liberty, 170. His theory on the moral character of 
actions, 254. His optimism, 399. His doctrine of mediate impu- 
tation, 475 ; and on the propagation of original sin, 533. 

Effectual calling. — Christ the author of it, 638. The mode of it, 639. 
The Word the instrument, 639. The Spirit the efficient agent, 639. 

Elect angels, are witnesses and students of the revealed glory of God, 
90, 97, 136, 141. They know God only through Christ, 573. Con- 
firmed by Christ at the judgment, 577, 676. 

Elect men, for them only Christ died, 569, 610; they only were given him 
in the covenant of life, 569. They are innumerable, 672. Will 
judge the angels, 675. 

Elohim. — The divine plurality is indicated by this name, 52. It is the 
designation of the Father, 52. Elohim documents, 52, 53, 359. 

English church, articles on original sin, 31. 

'E<p' o) means, in whom, 417. 

Eternal generation. — The doctrine, 78. Demonstration of it, 54, et seq. 
It is shadowed in human generation, 140. 

Eternal plan of God, 82. 

Eve, part of the representative head, 332, 427; her apostasy, 388. 

Everlasting covenant, 553. Its parties the Father and Son, 556. Its 
witness the Spirit, 560. Its seal, 572. It ordained the Son revealer, 
573. Its beneficiaries the elect, 569. The earth its throne, 576. 
Its purview all things, 575. Its dispensation closed, 677. 

Evil.— Entrance of moral, 385. It was by free will, 386, 13, 14. Permis- 
sion of it, 397, 405. Hopkinsian theories, 399. Taylor's doctrine, 
401. Why permitted, 409. 

Faith, wrought by the renewing Spirit, 641, 645. It is the instrumental 
cause of justification, 644. Keason of its necessity, 645. 

Family constitution. — The key to its significance, 314. 

Fate, the doctrine of Herodotus and Seneca, 195 ; of Beecher, 195. 

Father. — His relation to the eternal Son, 54, 78 ; to the work of creation, 
52; to the election, 558, 608; to the eternal covenant, 555, 559; to 
justification, 642 ; to adoption, 649 ; to the inheritance, 677. Keceives 
the kingdom at the end, 676. 

Father and son, names and relations of peculiar significance in the 
scheme of God, 74. 

"It is finished," 635. 

Fitch's definition of sin, 243. 



Index. 683 

Flayel, on the origin of the soul, 352. 

Form. — Definition of the word as used in the old philosophy, 342. 

Formula Consensus Helyetica, on the imputation of Adam's sin, 46. 

Freedom, defined, 171. 

Future kingdom of Christ, 669. 

Gallic confession - , on original sin, 30. 

Garden of Eden, 282, 677. 

Generation, defined, 79, 139. It is not a phenomenon of mere matter, 
346, 348. Wonderful nature of it, 143. Law of it, that like begets 
like, 324. That of the Son of God, 54. It is shadowed forth in 
that of man, 137, 140. 

God, revealed in the creation, 84. Presumption and unbelief alike to be 
avoided in studying his nature, 138. His moral nature revealed 
in the law, 94, 228; in the moral intelligences, 235; in Adam, 95, 
132; and in Christ, 95, 97, 667. Conscience not predicable of him, 
203. The God of the Socinian can have no moral nature, 229. 
God's moral attributes, 228. They imply community and hence plu- 
rality in the Godhead, 229. Are the ground of God's blessedness, 
230. He glories in them, 231. Their revelation the end of all 
things, 84. Their essential nature and evidence, 233. Design of 
their revelation, 235, 85. They all harmonize in the salvation of 
man, 546. God's infinite excellence the first princijDle of morals, 
234. His nature the norm of the law, 228. His beneficence is 
free from obligation, 402. 

God's sovereignty, 187. It is irresponsible, 203. The Scripture doc- 
trine, 201, 210. Hopkinsian doctrine, 191. Beecher's experiment, 
207. It involves us in total darkness, 206; and overshadows God's 
glory, 209. God's will the final reason of the creatures, 211, 239. 
That will is the expression of his nature, therefore holy, 239. 

God's providential sovereignty, 129. His upholding presence and power, 
126. A present God the refuge of the believer, 123. His eternal 
plan, 86. The providential administration of it, 100. Evolution 
of the plan, 665. 

Goodwin, on original sin, 42, 499. 

Graces, wrought by the Spirit, 640, 649. 

Green, on the origin of the soul, 337. 

Grotius, on original sin, 479. 

Guilt, defined, 461. Definition of Marck, 463 ; of Van Mastricht, 464; of 
Eutherford, 465. Usage of Calvin, 463; of the Westminster As- 
sembly, 469. 

Headship. — Distinction of natural, moral, and federal, 309. Christ's is 
his consummate relation to his people, 656. 

Heber. — Poetic lines by, 91. 

Helvetic confessions, on original sin, 30, 33. Formula Consensus, on 
mediate imputation, 46. 

Henry, on Job's confession, 205 ; on Eve's apostasy, 389. 

Hilary of Poictiers, on original sin, 16. 

Hodge, on the word, sin, 435, 446 ; on inbeing in Christ, 429. His expo- 
sition of the fifth of Romans, 436. Relation of his doctrine of 
imputation to the depravation of the race in Adam, 450. Defini- 
tion of imputation, 471. 

Holiness and righteousness, wherein different, 182. Adam's endow- 
ment, 182. 



684 Index. 

Hoornbeek, on the imputation of Adam's sin, 506. 

Hopkinsian system, 47 ; doctrine of God's sovereignty, 188. This the 
cause of infidelity, 190. On the origin of sin, 533. 

Identity, by community of nature, 317. Law of, 494, 317. Edwards' 
doctrine, 105. Modern form of it, 49. 

Immortality. — That of Adam's body, 136 ; of the soul, — its nature, 349. 

Imputation, defined, 471; of Adam's sin, 474. Edwards' doctrine, 475. 
Arminian doctrine, 479. Imputation for punishment without im- 
peachment of crime, 491. See Original Sin. 

Inability, total, 523. "Natural ability," 524. 

Inbeing in Adam, 429, 496. Its reality does not imply mediate imputa- 
tion, 504. 

Inbeing in Christ, 429, 435, 590, 638. 

Insects and animalcules are monuments of God's creative skill, 91, 93. 

Intuition. — Its office in religion, 200. 

Ithiel and Ucal, 60. 

Jehovah Elohim, Lord God, the name of Christ, 53. 
Job. — The book an exposition of God's irresponsible sovereignty, 205. 
Judas. — Satan personally in him, 631. 
Judgment, — The last, 675. 

Justification. — The matter of it, 642. The ground of it, 643. The in- 
strumental cause, 644. 

Kent's definition of a covenant, 296. 

Kingdom of Christ, Universal, 575, 665. From everlasting, 575. Deli- 
vered up to the Father, 676. Kingdom of grace, 638, 668. That 
sceptre perpetual, 677. 

Language. — Its sense one, 177. Its sense modified in application to God, 
80. As addressed to Adam, proves the extent of his knowledge, 177. 

Law, defined, 295, 457. 

Law of God, 187. It was written on Adam's heart, 155. Its authority 
grows out of the will of God, the Creator, 201, 211, 239. Its ex- 
cellence, from the nature of God, the holy, 240. Its offices, 214, 
251. It addresses the nature, 251. Its principle considered, 228. 
The principle is, conformity to God's moral nature, 238. This con- 
stitutes an impassable line between good and evil, 239. It binds 
devils, angels, and men, 217. Is comprehensive of the being, 215, 
253. It is perfect, 240. Unchangeable, 216. Suits all cases, 222. 
Requires perfect obedience, 214. Its sum is, Glorify God, 213. 
Requires of sinners repentance and faith, 223. Provides no sal- 
vation for transgressors, 224. Yet salvation only by it, 226, 613. 
It is forever sovereign in heaven and hell, 241. It was given as a 
covenant, 280. Necessity and nature of its sanctions, 263, 291. 

Leibnitz. — His definition of liberty, 171. Optimism, 397, 404. Theory 
of providence, — Pre-established harmony, 117. On the origin of 
the soul, 339. 

Liberty. — Definition of, 170. That of the sons of God, 169. 

Like begets like. — The law of generation, 324, 355, 360. 

Little things. — There are none, 88, 89. 

Luther's opinion of the scholastic doctrine of original sin, 380 ; on the 
difference between image and likeness, 135. 

Lyford, on original sin, 44. 



Index. 685 

Man, generically, was created in Adam, 133. The old and new in one 
person, 454, 651. 

Manhood of Christ, necessary, 579 ; relation to it of the creation theory 
of the origin of the soul, 367. 

Marck's definition of guilt, 463 ; on original sin, 36. Sinners only pun- 
ished, 489. 

Marginal readings of the Bible. Their authority, 417. 

Marshall, on the mystical union, 592, 600. 

McCosh, on a particular providence, 116. On answer to prayer, 117. 

Mediate imputation. — Invented by Placseus, 46. Adopted by Edwards, 47, 
475. Mistake respecting it, 504. De Moor's argument against it, 505. 

Mediator. — Christ that of angels as well as men, 573. That of man must 
himself be man, 579 ; and God, 588. 

Melchizedek. — Christ after his order, 557. 

Metaphors, imply man fallen, 268. 

Millenium. — Its coming sudden, 670. All will be holy, 672. The time 
will be protracted, 673. 

Milton.— Lines from, 132, 184, 334. 

Miracle.— Defined, 370. Its ofiice, 119, 121, 370. In relation to the 
origin of the soul, 370. 

Molinjeus, on the origin of the soul, 343. 

Moral agency, 237. Freedom essential to it, 167. 

Moral nature. — Defined, 236, 152. Why given to creatures, 235, 247. 
Phenomena of, 244. It holds specific relations to external things, 
159, 245. It is a determinate cause, 245, 247. The effects there- 
fore attach to it, 247. The design is the reflection of God's essen- 
tial perfections, 249. 

Moral obligation, 187, 200, 211. It attaches to the nature, 249, 250; and 
lays hold of the person, 250. 

Moral sense, and conscience, as contradistinguished, 153, 236. 

Morell, on the Cartesian philosophy, 104. 

Names or God. — They announce his perfections, 73. 

"Natural ability" absurd, 523. 

Nature. — The word defined, 148. That of man created in Adam, 144- 
150. Doctrine of Augustine, 21, 496 ; of Abelard, 26 ; of the Belgic 
confession, 32 ; of Boston, 45 ; of Calvin, 34 ; of Dickinson, 507 ; of 
De Moor and Hoornbeek, 506; of Goodwin, 42, 499; of Ly ford, 44; 
of Oclo, 27 ; of Pareeus and Poole, 474; of Eutherford, 468. It de- 
termines the will, 160. Owes glory to God, 249 252. Apostatized 
in Adam, 395, 474. 

Nature. — Office of the system of, 114. 

Neander. — Citations from, 23, 26, 336. 

New Haven. — System of, 49 ; on permission of moral evil, 401. 

New Jerusalem, 677. 

New man and old, in one person, Paul's doctrine, 454, 651. 

Nominal and Eeal philosophy, 25. 

North British Eeview, on the wonders of nature, 347. 

Oath of God. — The seal of the eternal covenant, 572. 

Obedience. — Due to God, 187; of Christ, 605. 

Object. — Eequisite to an intelligent agent, 82. That of God, — his own 

glory, 83; — and the happiness of the creatures, 85. 
Odo, or Udardus, on original sin, 27. 
Old man and new, in one person, 454, 651. 



6S6 Index. 

Olive. — The wild and the good. 432. 

Optimism.— Defined, 399. Phases of it, 397. 

Origex, on the pre-existence of the soul, 336, 17. 

Original righteousness. — Scholastic doctrine. 26. 2 Q . 379. That of Adam, 
l x 2. Irs want an element of native depravity. 518. 

Original six. — History of the doctrine. 11. Paul's discussion. 410. Im- 
putation of Adam's sin. 474. Inherent depravity, 510. Stuart's 
doctrine. 514. Arminian theory. 37, 479. Propagation of, 529. 
Penal privation theory. 536. Creation theory, 375. 

Owex. — On Christ's assumption of the curse, 607; on Christ "made sin 
for us," 442; on alkna o.dpa, 443. 

Paixe. in harmony with Beeeher, 197. 

Paxtheistic tendency of Cartesianism. 104. 

Parallel of Adam and Christ, 319, 447. 

Parjeus, on original sin, 474. 

Parthexogexesis, 347. 

Paul's discussion of original sin. 410. 

Pelagius. a rationalist. 364. His doctrine on original sin, 17. His defi- 
nition of sin, 243. 

Pexalty of the law. — What it is. 264. Must be prescribed in terms in 
the law. 264: attaches to none but transgressors, 488. Barnes' de- 
finition, 264. He confounds '"the penalty of the Law," with "the 
penalty of sin," 267. See Punishment. 

Permissiox of moral evil. 397. 

Persox.— Defined. 80, 237. 

Philosophy. — Its proper relation to revelation, 363. 

Physical depravity, 514. 

Pictet, on the origin of the soul, 377. 

Placeus, on original sin. — mediate imputation, 45. 

Plax of God. 86. One pre-requisite to wise action, 86. It gTaduallv un- 
folds. 87. Comprehends all things, 88. Is infallibly fulfilled, 114. 
Its fulfilment secured in the eternal covenant, 575. 

Plato. — On the origin of the soul, 336. On optimism, 397. 

Pleasure. — In what it consists, 165. It does not rule the will, 164. 

Pollok. — Lines from, 547. 

Poole, on the imputation of Adam's sin, 474. 

Prayer. — Answer to. 117. 

Preachixg. — The means of salvation, 639. 

Pre-established harmony. — Theories of Leibnitz and McCosh, 117. 

Presumptiox axd uxbellef both wrong in studying the nature of God, 138. 

Promise. — Defined, 295. History of that of the covenant, 548. 

Propagatiox of souls. — The law, like begets like, 324, 355. Objections, 
341, 351. See Creatioxism. 

Providextial administration. 100. Twofold sphere. — material and moral, 
124. In the former, mediate, uniform and permanent, 124. In 
the latter, immediate, 125. Mode of administration, 126. It is 
sovereign and absolute, 129. 

Punishment applies to none but criminals, 488, 491, 264. 

Purpose of God, 86. See Plax of God. 

Prixcetox Review. — On Beecher's "apparent causation," 491. On "sub- 
stance of doctrine,'' 436. 

Real axd Nominal philosophy, 25. 

Reason.— Its office in Adam, 152. Depraved by the fall, 519. 



Index, 687 

Reatus pcen^s et culp.£, 463, 465, 468. 

Reformed confessions on original sin, 29. 

"Regarded and treated" as sinners, 50, 439, 

Regeneration. — The manner of it, 640. 

Representation. — Principle of, 329. That of the race by Adam, 305. 

Mode of it, 311. Constructive, 323. The Bible represents it as 

real, 331. 
Responsibility, — Sense of. — Effect of theories of original sin, 500. 
Righteousness and holiness. — The distinction, 182. That of Adam, 182. 
Romans. — Analysis of the epistle, 410. Exposition of ch. v. 12, et seq., 412. 
Rosceline, the father of the Nominal philosophy, 26. 
Rousseau and Beecher in harmony, 199. 

Sanctification. — God's Word the means, 649. The Spirit the agent, 650. 

Sanctions.— Requisite to the law, 263. There were two, 263. Life, 289, 
291, 302. Death, 268. 

Satan. — His temptation of Adam and Eve, 387 ; of Christ, 628, 630. His 
last struggle, 674. 

Schoolmen. — On original sin, 25 ; on the origin of the soul, 376, 379. 

Scotch confession, on original sin, 31. 

Seal.— Defined, 294. Those of the covenant of works, 294. That of the 
eternal covenant, 572. 

Second causes. — Theories of them, 100. 

Seed. — The Spirit the incorruptible, 320. 

Seneca. — On Fate, 195. "Video meliora," 166. 

Servant. — Christ in the form, 584. See Obedience of Christ. 

Seth's moral nature propagated from his father, 356. 

Sin. — Nature of it, 243, 259. Two evils in it, — unlikeness to G-od; and, 
rebellion, 259, 266. Two forms of punishment, 266. The word how 
used, 484. Meaning of it in Rom. v. 12, 412. Hodge on it, 435. 
Witsius, 437. Grotius and Whitby, 479. Sin an indwelling power, 
457 ; original in Adam, 459. Sometimes penal, never caused by G-od, 
531. Edwards' doctrine, 533. Sin of nature, 256. 

Sinai law, and that given to Adam, the same, 277. 

Sinners only punished, 488. See Punishment. 

Son of God, a divine title, 62, 66, 71. For the claim of it Christ was 
condemned, 64. His generation, 54. He was the Creator, 53. His 
coronation, 54, 575, 665, 668. Sonship of his humanity, 70. 

Sonship to G-od, by union with Christ, 69, 646. Its Privileges, 647. 

Soul. — Aristotle's definition of it, 344. Its origin, 335. Theories on this 
subject, 336-341. Doctrine of Tertullian, 14; of Augustine, 19; of 
Pelagius, 17 ; of the schoolmen, 28, 376 ; of the Scriptures, 355. Its 
natural attributes, 152. Its moral powers, 152. Distinction of 
ptire, impure, and not-pure, 379, 28. See Moral nature. 

Southern Presbyterian Review. — On origin of the soul, 345, 368. On 
imputation, 504. 

Sovereignty of G-od, necessary, 187, 212; by right, 187, 211; asserted in 
the Scriptures, 201. 

Special providences. — Theories of, 116. Their office, 119. G-od's imme- 
diate hand is everywhere, 123. 

Species. — Dana on, 145. Different theories, 149. 

Spirit of God. — Mode of his subsistence, 79. The breath his image, 151. 
His office in the eternal covenant, 560. His agency in the crea- 
tion, 53; in restraining men's wickedness, 127; in leading their 
thoughts, 128; in working in them all good, 129; in effectual 



688 Index. 

calling, 639; in regeneration, 640; in adoption, 646; in sancti- 

fication, 649; in divine communion, 647; in the resurrection, 652. 

He is the incorruptible seed, 320. The author of the mystical 

union, 597, 656. 
Stapfer. — A disciple of Leibnitz, 398. His optimism, 399. 
Starry heavens, 91. 

Stuart, on man's native state, 514. On Eomans v. 12, 412. 
Substance. — Denned, 101. 
Substitution. — In what it consists, 618. Barnes' doctrine, 618. 

Taylor of New Haven. — On permission of moral evil, 49, 401, 405. 

Taylor of Norwich. — Theory of second causes, 103, 106. On the mean- 
ing of, the word death, 414. 

Temptation, of Adam and Eve, 387; of Christ, 629. 

Tentamina Theodicac*le. See Leibnitz. 

Tertullian. — His character, 12. His doctrine of original sin, 12. On 
the origin of the soul, 14. 

Tree and branches. — Adam and the race, 41, 433. 

Trees of Life and Knowledge, 284, 292. Effect of the prohibition, 292. 

Trinity. — The doctrine, 78. The Persons coequal, 79; coeternal and one, 
80. By them the creation was made, 51. 

Truth. — The instrument in effectual calling, 639 ; and in sanctification, 649. 

Ucal and Ithiel, 60. 

Udardus, or Odo, on original sin, 27. 

Union, — Mystical, 590, manner of it, 638. By virtue of it, Christ subject 

to the curse, 607. It is the ground of justification, 642 ; of adoption, 

646 ; the means of communion with God, 647; of sanctification, 649 ; 

of the resurrection, 652. 
Universe. — Its vastness, 92. It proclaims the Creator, I am, 90. It is 

God's instrument, 116, 120. The theatre of moral revelation, 124. 
Ursinus, on original sin, 36. On Christ's humanity, 580. 

Van Mastricht. — On Adam's likeness to God, 185 ; on creationism and 
original sin, 381; on the meaning of guilt, 464. 

Westminster formularies. — Brief Sum, 40, 287. Confession, 39, 100, 128, 
131, 173, 287, 367, 469, 470, 659. Catechisms, 243, 287, 298, 327, 367, 
469, 587, 597. 

Whitby, on the word, "sin," 479 ; on Christ's justifying righteousness, 481. 

Wiggers' statement of the doctrine of Pelagius, 17 ; on that of Augustine, 
21. Pelagius a rationalist. Augustine a super-rationalist, 364. 

Will, of Adam, 158. It is the soul operating on the powers as an effi- 
cient cause of action, 159, 172. As is the nature, so is the will, 
162. It is free, 166. Pleasure does not control it, 164. Eeason 
and conscience do not, 166. See Edwards. 

Wisdom of God, 55. Christ is he, 58. 

Wisheart's definition of the eternal generation, 139. 

Witherspoon, on the origin and depravation of the soul, 337. 

Witness of the covenant. — The Spirit, 560. 

Witsius, on Adam's original holiness, 183 ; on original sin, 437 ; reply to 
Grotius on the subject, 481. 

Young. — Poetic lines from, 545, 636. 

r 



u 



23 J.-tn 1:800. 



/? 






-2S££ C <^ 


^"4^ 


<*^rcc 


Cc 


«ocrc<zz 


<<f«L 


S&z<c 


C <Z 


5&cc: 


«^c<K 


CXc ci 


C^< 


Ccc c 


<Sc<3 



ZL <^<L 

^ <^-<Z 

«3cc: <?<? .cfk W: 

«2CC C < Ccr - 

<cc<z <r c «« ■ 

^. <CCZcC' 

<3cx_5^ S- S *c§l. - 
CCCZ £i"C ^cecc ^c 

:ZCC <7«< esc 

C'*C <Z^ C <C 



ccccZ 


*^ r 


c 


381 


«j£OC 


< 


c^c 


ffrr *"~~ 


< 


r"''' < 




*CC<CCZ 


<r<c^xC5 


g 


.CL^C 




«c 


< 


r~r 


*«<CC 


<C<c< 


c^ 


<< c 




c 

c 




p 


*C<CcC 


^ZZ< < 


pS 


<L C 


•^ ZC 


< 




<z 


or d " 


^C < C 




C; « < 


ccd 


.<: 


52 ■ < 




-CCCZ 


d"<sr< 


r~~ 


<T<C 


«ccz 

<ccz<c 


■ c 
c 




i 

c 


1 CC 

<cc 








"c<C<s 


^d <jc 


, «ci- c 


•c 


_flK 


c 


«ss:<s:c 


<ac -cc 


' ^-~ 


c < 


i. <<§*<; 


X 


Z «2 i 


< 


ZI_JFCLcs£ 


<8Cl «C< 


? ^£ 


<: 


< ( Ct<7 


c 


'"<!<£■' 


e 


ZZZ<fc«C 


<sc <s 


^c^ 


c c 


•cc <c 


XI 


.<3C 


C 


_<CcC 


^c:<c 


:<c 


< C 


<K<C 


^ 


<sx« 


«£ 


<C<C 


*-<Xl <sc 


-c 


c c 


,.<cx <C 


<Z 




c 

< 


__CC 


<C7 ^^ 






ZZ. Cc~ 


^1 <£< 


. «5r -C ■ 


: *c: 




< 


L<< 


'■■■^S5 


:. -^1 


L <Si< 




< 


L. <J C 


^ci/. ^^ 


» -^1 


<^< 


• <« X 


C 


<R 


< 


H «o<c. 




c •« 


Z cct 


« cc ;. 3 


c 


ca 


<Z 


« «r ' 


■■ ^f^T ***S3C 


, <z 


CCc 


«<«C 3 


p « 


cbc 


<z 


<<€ " 


^^dl <Lfd 


<z 


cc< 


<l 3 


2 < 


ZCcc. 


c 


_< <€ 


^C <SC 


<: 


<c 


c < 


c < 


^ c< 


cz 


c C. _< 


cr <^ci. 


<Z 


<:<c 


<S < 


__ < « 


Zfig 


d 


< <r~ 


^Z <-<r 


• <^ 


c<cr 


c-je 


c 


m < 


d 


\ C < 


CT CC 


<: 


<C « 


*c: c 


<! 


3C « 


c 


1 « « 


n cc 




«r< < 



: <' c«c 


Ci. <Z 


C<3C 


CC 


Cc C-SC. 


C -c: 


CC<3CZ 


c: c 


cccc 


C c 


CccC 


C c 


1<£C C< 


~ Ct( 


<ic C< 


_ <CCC 


<< cx 


^ cs< 


:cc< 


ZCc 


L_<c o 


c c 


: <:c c 


C c < 


c\ <:c < 


:*r c 


:c< c 


C c 


<:<: o 


c; c c 



i <^cc" 


czc 


4 


c_ 


cc 


_ <^c 


C<c 


4 


t «cc 


: ^^ 


cfe 


fc *cc 








^ 




• ^x 


r~ ^c 


Z" ' «cc 


<IcX 


: 0^ 


<: 


<sc: 


^Z.cx 


c«3§ 

'C* 


^ 


<X«r: 


Bl •< 




'^Cc- <3-, 


Q 


Cv -*Z_ 


'^CS: <jC 


o<^ 


xc ^r *<c<; 


k ^CS *3 


<Z 


^Z '.?iC!s_^Z 


'•B^S CX 


<3 


■ <^i «5S<: 


v^cX" <S- 


O 


<z <c c 


t i^t^£. ■ <S 


<3 


-c: :<ce<^ 


■^CjZ <x 


C" 


C «s^c^ 


^•lTc CC 


c: 


c <c< <zz 


^OZcc 


<z * 


C ''<Cc <zz 


•CXCc 


c < 


Z <CC- czzz 


3tc <^c 


Cl 


ci *«cic- ^^1 


MZjz cc 


<Q<c< 


'<3C^ -<zz 


d< : <3: 


<c <: 


■<3C< <zzz 


rTc> <r< 


< <: 


*<cc ^zz: 


r< c< < 


: <c 


cCcCZv 


^« << c 


<r 


acrc:"< 


Cc Cc C' 


(SSI 


; <3C < ^ZZ1< 


CcX o 


C c 


<z<Z c ^r^ c 


<C< ci c « 


- -c < 


Jtj^tj c.c*l^o 


ec? c«< 


<z * 
c c 





^C^c <: <^sc <z 






<C < 

«z 

«Z? cc>;<<^ 



± <£ C <Z 
<: CZ <Z C C- 

«^< <x <z <z oc«i<i 

c< os: cc 
«c:< cc c c: 
^ecc cc. 
r"<;'<3i-'"-: 'c ■<: ■ 

g: c cc cc c: 

KZ. C c c CC C 






:C C-€Cc c 

fc C <a«Z C c 

J: <C ^CCc 

ZZ -<g; '^sr_c:< 
i:<:c^zt< jc 
cc^c cc: 
cz< «< <d. - 

ZCc^Zc, CZ ' 
Cc ^ZC <v es^cc 



«c <z< 



<< C<^c 



dC 



4C<'* <: , 



-■«c*cc <: 
: cc 

z: c_c 
I cc 

. cc 






cc 

r~ 4sgr 



C«e < < 

C<c--< 4C 

C*C<Cc^ 



«cs < c 



<cc 
<cc<c 

CaC 

<lc 






« < 



<SWfc C C 



<: .'Cc <: 

^ cc 
: cc 
: cc 
n <cc 
: cc 
J «cc 

L CC 

: < c 



«CC«C1 4 
jC<^ c « 



«^«C 



3S 



<C^ CC CC 

<c • . <$. c 



<Cc c CO 
<£c CCC« _ 

«< ^^cc«(<: 



: <*C OC ' <&<«: cfe 



■<L ;..'CL*C-, <""< 





^=^ <L ^ 


C 

C < 






c 


< 


CI 


^S^iC 


C_ <^JQIC 


c 


,.'< 


d 


:<£« «c 

**Sc^; 


C5 C 


C O^ < 


ac 


j ..:< 


s 




c^ 


■CL <3C. ^ 

-c oc < 




L. c 

I c 








CI 


.^c:<ec 


C^ 


c cc 


• <. 


_ c 




c 


<^C<C ; 


c - 


c <g£<m 


^<: 


3 c 




C 


"^Cl^ClC-/ 


C*_«>-. 


■c or cc 


<: 


_ < 




c 


^Ec% 


C^t. " 


C <5C .<- ; < 


<: 

«< 


I c 
_ c 




vC_ 


I c*c 


c cc 


c 


^CLC-C 


* c?^c< 


% CaC <:, 


<: 


L c 




c 


^cc 


c c 


. CC cc# 


*c: 


c 




C 4 


CCc 


c c 


<c<: cc^ 


c 


' c 


< 


£ « 


C-«Cc 


C c 


<«lC <c«s 


<L 


~c ■■ 


c 


4C 


c^ae: -■- 


<L < 


*C«C c- 


■^CL 


<L 




C 4| 


i <z:* 


c - < 


,«^c; vc*< 


«c 


c 


c 




-i <~C ■•' " 


ccc < 


«aGC <C-Cji 


c 


c 


c 


^KL 


-' • ; <r: < 


••'<• c 


•r^^ <-.cag 


c 


< 4 


c. 


4MC 


CC c 


C <:< 


<L ; «C<siC 


1^ < 


S C 




^£V 


<Cj c c 


c- C ' «: * 


<: cc^a 


^- < 


: c 




4flC 


«C*c: c 


eg- <^ «:.4ti 


C «C-«Ci 


c 


c 


4 


j^~~ 


<Oc c 


^C €^i« 


" <C <I 


c 


c 


41 


C 


-C -c c* 


c< <.«« 


i" ■«<:'««: 


L1C 


C^- 


41 


M 


«c < cc 


< C«S£ 


<cc«id 


<: 


<*- 


^ 


^ 


c: c cv 


s. cr<r. 


<«C«aC^ 


c 


c :a 


C 




<C C C 


^fc 


^<scc<r_ 


c 


s ^ 


:i 


_. C 


sr c c <. 


C"*cT 


c<aouic;< 


I <^ 


^^ 




f " '• c 


C <i_ <c^ 


-•c<r 




c 


c « 




^ .'..< 


C C cT- 


i -C 


'^C^^cT 


<5 






^< < 


< <.. c< 


-c 


<«L'*<c: 


C 


c ^: 




E^. "<4i 


<t'«- C ' 


<:i 


^cc 


c 


& <5 




IT C4J! 


<*C -...<f «^ 


« <<z 


cflC«J«L 


_<; 






, , 




<: 




, 


<? 


^ 


1 c 


3o «5i v ' • 


,<L 


c«cl*c< 


g i 






-v<j 


CC-^C v *■ • 


<_,_ 




i i 


^J 




cCC 


^C <^A.V' ' 


i c_.. 






C C4I\ 


*" <SCjL.."*4-*- 


c <- 




c 


^< «c 




<*; 


J "ZamnL <<a? 


'<" 


c«:i i 












<SC-x *SL 


< ' tC 


C«0» 


^ ; <. 


- < 




CC4 






c^c^ 


c< 


oCv 


n 


c< 

4Q 




Sf-' i^^^- 




C ■ £~~^r~~ 




Cv. C 


A 




HI-.. CSC 


w '^ 


< *^ 1 ^ — 


c 


CC * 


«* 




^OiC3 


fc, c< 


«fe 


< 


"•" c 


c 






<_ % 




- <- 


c 


4C* 

4C 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 898 563 4 



